An actual romantic meal for two! Review of The Neighbour's Chef in Oldham.

I was given the opportunity for 2 people to review The Neighbour's Chef restaurant in Oldham and I really was excited. We never go out, we don't have relatives nearby and there's always someone needs us, or a lift, or something. We could have Valentines a week early.  It's the perfect push we needed to actually take some time as a couple and dare to leave the teens in charge of the little ones. A meal out? Just the two of us? Ohhhh yes.

We booked our meal for 7.00, so by the time we arrived it was already bitterly cold and pitch black. The Neighbour's Chef is housed in a building which obviously used to be a large pub, so it's really spacious and had a good sized car park which is right off the main road and easy to spot. 

The waiter/owner came straight over and he was lovely, really keen and sat us at a nice table. He asked us if we were there through Groupon, so I had to come clean and tell him we were there for a review and bless him, he looked really nervous.

The restaurant was beautifully laid out, very spacious and neat. It was fairly early on a Thursday, so there were only 6 diners including us.

The Neighbour's Chef is so named because they wanted to bring together different foods and flavours from all of their neighbors throughout the world, so the menu features a fantastic array ranging from curries and noodles to risotto, pizza and nachos. Lots of items on the menu can be customised, for example you choose exactly how you want your pizza rather than just selecting from a list of 5.

I was especially delighted to see that the menu online is only 2/3 of the actual menu, there was an entire extra page - including a big veggie section!

It's instantly clear that the prices are really incredibly reasonable - the Neighbour's Chef Poppadum Platter at £2.25 is cheaper than it would cost me to buy 4 poppadums from my local take away, and the quality is great.

The onion chutney was incredibly fresh, I'd believe it was cut especially for us. When I make it at home it isn't that fresh when we get to eat it. There were 2 varieties of poppadum too - which is a first.

We also ordered a mixed vegetarian starter with onion bhaji's, pakora and samosas. Again it was really incredibly fresh and beautifully cooked, crispy and not at all greasy. When we'd finished there wasn't so much as a smear of oil on the plate.

Everything is freshly prepared by the in-house chefs and all of the meals are chosen for flavour, not fads or fancy names.

For main course I had the Chef's Special Vegetable Dum Pukht Biryani (at only £5.99) and my partner had Chicken Thai Green Curry. Again they were lovely - more lovely than my photography which was suffering slightly from the 2 pints of Cobra and the fact I actually had relaxed.

The Kulcha vegetable stuffed naan bread was gorgeous. I took about 20 photo's of it for some reason....and insisted on taking home what I couldn't finish....

Neither of us managed to finish our meals, and the waiter/owner was more than happy to 'doggy bag' it for us to take home - I did only take the remaining naan bread though.

Tragic as it was, we were not able to fit in a dessert, although I have a feeling I would have enjoyed anything from the menu...

Before we left, a quick visit to the loo and it was exactly as I expected. No frills but spotlessly clean.

The Neighbour's Chef is an independent restaurant run by a keen team who want you to enjoy your meal. They're very proud of their service - after we had eaten the waiter couldn't wait to bring out some amazing little tablets that turned into full sized hand cloths when he poured warm water on them.

We were asked throughout if everything was okay, but we were left alone to enjoy our meal, there was exactly the right amount of interaction.

A man who has every right to be proud of his business

I'll be honest, their website is full of spelling mistakes and 1/3 of the menu isn't even shown, but I'm not bothered because I'm not there to see how great a website they have - I'm there for the food and the experience. If they pumped all their money into website design then they could end up all hot air and no product.

I like to be able to support independent products and services, and I would definitely recommend The Neighbour's Chef to anyone. We've promised to return with our troop of children and we definitely will because the prices are excellent, the food is delicious and the staff are absolutely lovely. It's a place I would feel incredibly comfortable taking our children and I could be certain they'd ALL find something they loved on the menu. We might even go back again on our own.....

The Neighbours Chef regularly hosts special nights -
On Valentine's Day they have a Dance Performance and 3 course meal plus wine for £35 per person
On 23rd Feb they have a comedy night with Daliso Chaponda and Tony Vino and 3 course meal for £27.99 per person

Take a look at their Facebook page or Twitter feed for regular updates,
or ring them for further details - 01612585311. 

The Neighbours Chef  also serve food to take away and you can find them on the Just Eat website.