The New New Bengal Indian Restaurant in Gosforth is the refurbished result from the New Bengal Restaurant.
The Old New Bengal Gosforth
The Indian restaurant had been established in Gosforth for over 40 years. We’d visited a couple of times when on our dating years. During the late summer of 2014, the business was set on fire in an arson attack. The fire spread through the building and the business had to be shuttered.
For the following 2 years we drove past the New Bengal wondering what was going to happen to it. Waiting for the refurbishment to be completed.
The New New Bengal Indian Restaurant Gosforth
Towards the end of 2016 eventually reopened, in time for Christmas. The interior style was much more up to date, than the slightly dated previous version. I joked to Catherine as we drove by “Oh look there is the “New New Bengal”. Two days later the sign was installed and it was called the NEW New Bengal.
Since the opening we were curious to see how the restaurant has changed. With an offer of a meal out with my mother, we headed to the New New Bengal as it’s a short walk from her house.
The interior is fresh and modern, with a large tone of a duck egg blue. The main entrance is all glass with a lovely bar at the front of the restaurant. The refit certainly brought them up to date, but also lack a little detail on the wall. It seemed a little sterile, possibly adding some art onto the walls would add focus point and interest.
New New Bengal Popadoms
Popadoms and a pickle tray are a must for us. Abigail is at her happiest when she has one of these lightweight crisps smushed into her face. Imogen insists on the “Orange Jam”. Catherine tickles the onion salad, while I dip into everything. Lime Pickle, Chilli Pickle, the lot. My mother whose lost her appetite was encouraged to share in the popadom bonanza and she enjoyed the Onions and milder sauces.
The strange thing I find about popadoms is that you can eat them and never be filled up. I can easily eat 4 popadoms before a starter and still be starving. It’s like a thin cousin of the prawn cracker.
They excelled themselves on presentation. The pickle tray was well arranged, even down to the spoons all pointing in a North West direction.
New New Bengal Starters
It was just myself and Cat for starters. We don’t shy away from a bit extra food. I decided to step away from my usual Samosa, Onion Bhaji or Bhuna Prawn of Puri choice. I spotted “Butterflied King Prawn” starter. It mentioned Garlic and Ginger and I thought it was worth trying something different. Cat went Bhuna Prawn on Puri.
It looked better than I was expecting. Cat’s starter had the prawny goodness with a rolled up… Puri. Even the artistic sauce drawing was a surprise. Although I’m not sure if it was an abstract tomato or Pepper.
Mine was a little sparser than expected. I imagined a few butterflied king prawns and possibly in a garlicy sauce. The crispy coating was very crispy and needed to be dipped in the sauce to counteract the dry crispness. However I’ve never had a red flower painted on my plate before.
New New Bengal Main Course
I always feel it’s hard to photograph curries in a restaurant and it’s essentially a bowl of soup, but I’d tried my best. Cat chose Chicken Tikka Jalfrezi and I picked Chicken Sri Lanka. A garlic and Coriander Naan and Garlic Pilau rice.
On recent curry nights out I’ve tried to move away from Chicken Tikka Masala, even though I love it. Trying something different is part of the experience. The Chicken Sri Lanka had a little kick to it. The smooth sauce was very tasty as was the chicken. The only part I wasn’t so keen on was the secretly hidden Slice of Lemon that looked like a chunk of chicken. Which turns out it wasn’t so secret as it’s mentioned on the menu!
The Chicken Tikka Jalfrezi was very tasty too. A thicker less saucy dish, but very well presented with strips of of cooked onion draped across the top.
Overall I can’t fault the flavours and food from the New New Bengal. Everything was well presented and we polished everything off. If I was going to twist a little it was that the iPad ordering system seemed to have a few glitches. Possibly with a little more training, the system will no doubt be ironed out. Definitely, the best Indian Restaurant Goforth has and we’ve been to… and that’s quite a few.
The Restaurant also does takeaway which you can order via it’s website.
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