Flavour Report: Brown Boys in Geraldton would not be out of place on Manchester’s curry mile

If you ask most Brits what they miss food-wise about the UK, the answer will most likely either be decent fish and chips or, more often than not, a great curry.

If you have grown up in or even visited the north of England, you will be fully aware that there is a curry house on nearly every street corner. With such an intense level of competition, the value and quality are often phenomenal.

I have had decent curries in WA and a pretty good one in Perth but never in Geraldton — until last week, that is.

This week’s Flavour Report took us to Brown Boys Curry House in the Stirlings Central arcade, just a couple of doors down from EB Games and with plenty of parking and ample seating inside if you fancied a sit-down meal. The atmosphere inside the restaurant was welcoming and the lady serving was quick and helpful.

We opted for butter chicken, prawn masala, shahi paneer, lots of poppadoms, loaded fries, simple boiled rice and mutter mushroom. The entire meal came to just over $120, with generous portion sizes. Compared to other takeaways, we felt it was right on the money, so to speak.

First off, not to leave you in suspense, every dish was a hit, packed with flavour and loaded with veggies, prawns and meat. We certainly did not feel short-changed.

The prawn masala and butter chicken took us all the way back to Manchester and the curry mile; just simply divine. The meat and prawns were tender, the sauce was smooth and creamy and had just about the right amount of heat. Quite often butter chicken can have a grainy texture, but Brown Boys’ effort was as smooth as they come.

If veggie is your thing, the mutter mushroom, which is a delightful dish containing mushrooms and peas covered in a spicy north Indian sauce, will hit all the right spots. We have not had it before, but the lady serving gave it such a solid recommendation we had to try it.

The same can be said for the shahi paneer; the cheese was creamy yet firm with a lovely background heat that delighted even the spice-shy among our group. To be honest, we could have gone fully vegetarian for our takeaway and not missed out on anything.

The loaded fries were interesting; the kids were desperate to try them and were not left disappointed. The adults were not big fans of chips with their curry, but the young ones thought the crispy fries covered in curried mince was the highlight of the meal.

The entire meal was simply an awesome experience, from the ease of ordering, the friendly service, the smells and atmosphere inside the curry house to the food itself.

It goes without saying that we recommend and will visit Brown Boys Curry House in the near future and often. We feel very blessed in Geraldton to have such a great range of eateries and are glad to add Brown Boys to that growing list.