With my stomach rumbling on a visit to see some old friends in the East Midlands, I decided to pay a visit to one of my old haunts. It was raining cats and dogs in Nottingham, and with the tramlines whistling behind me, I dropped in at the celebrated Bombay Sweet Centre which sits opposite the Hyson Green Asda landscape-blot.
As well as samosas, pakora, and bhajis, Bombay sells a big range of Indian sweet dishes and fresh curries cooked in-house and ready to go. A little while back I spent many afternoons trying out the fresh delicacies on offer here, such as barfi (soft sweet cuboids like fudge) and jalebi (twirls of fried syrup). The display of colour is so warm and beautiful. Glistening in-between a tired betting shop and a tatty internet cafe, this family business is a great aromatic house of food joy.
Standing there in the shop, a tide of nostalgic thoughts flooded over me. The warm aura of my surroundings brought back strange memories of being unemployed and wiling away destitute days in fine diners like the Bombay. As I admired the heaps of sweet and savoury snacks behind the glass counter, a taxi driver jostled past and asked the the big shopkeeper for a samosa. Witnessing this, my mind was made up: I asked for three of the fat triangular vegetable pastries for myself. A genuine bargain at 30p each, they were homemade to boot.
"There you go boss," said the stoic owner, as he bagged them up and dished them out.
Taking my first bite, I wasn't disappointed...
Bombay Sweet Centre, Radford Road, Nottingham
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