Updates from Ian Quarrington

V8 Curry menu options
It has been really hard for me to get this far with orgnaising the V8 Curry evening … I’ve had to visit the restaurant on a very regular basis since last summer’s Silverstone meeting where I volunteered to take on this very pleasurable task. Oh the hardship of it all …. . . . .

Yesterday evening I called into the Curry Centre and now have a little more detail to give you on the menu for February 24th. The cost works out at £18 per head for three courses and coffee. I think it wise if people make their own arrangements for drinks perhaps on a per table basis. I will settle the bill for the food in person but am happy to take either cash or cheques from members made payable to me on the night.

There is a choice of ten items to start with from Sheek kebab to Aloo Chaat. I personally recommend the Chicken Chaat. For main course there are six fish dishes, four chicken and six lamb and all these can be either in Madras, Jalfrezi, Korma, Rogon or Dhansak versions. Then there are five Tandoori options and three Balti dishes. There are also nine vegetarian options. Side dishes include five rice dishes four types of Naan breads and two parathas.

Sweets, if you can manage them, are very very sweet and I leave you to ponder on that one. We have the whole of the top floor of the restaurant allocated to us and we are expected to arrive for 7.30 and be dining by 8 pm.

I hope this whets your appetite but more importantly that it meets with your approval. I am happy to field more enquiries and on the night help out with those who for whatever reason manage to get lost en route.

A word of warning about Cambridge without patronising anyone… There have been lots of road incidents with foreign tourists who look the wrong way before stepping off the pavement, so please take extra care if your route takes you around the Backs or Maids Causeway or even the top of Bridge St. which is only 300 yards from where we are meeting.

Ian Quarrington 23.1.07

To anyone who enjoys a proper pint of beer, may I recommend the Castle Inn which is almost opposite the Curry House in the direction of the City? Plenty of choice for real ales with the occasional guest beers.

Ian Quarrington 24.1.07

Update on the possible organ recital
Unfortunately Ian Quarrington has heard from the Chapel Clerk at St John's that he has been unable to get access to play the organ there on the evening of Saturday 24 February 2007. This date falls in Term and Choral Evensong will be sung in Chapel that night with a rehearsal beforehand from 5pm. V8 members and their friends attending the V8 Curry will be more than welcome to listen to the service which will commence at 6.30pm and last for about 45 minutes. The College Choir are in concert at Eton College that night, so the service will be sung by the Hills Road Sixth Form College Chamber Choir. Ian responded to the Clerk saying he "feels sure that many of those attending our dinner that evening will be delighted to go and listen to the service as an opportunity for that does not come around often. Some of our group will have travelled from Germany and the United States so news of being able to listen to the College Service will be a welcome addition to their visit". (23.1.07)

A word of caution for anyone travelling along the A14 in Cambridgeshire to the Curry night. I have always referred to this road as the highway to hell. Do watch your speed as it is having a lot of money spent on the installation of average speed cameras in case the dozen or so cameras already on it get lonely. So now it is also to be known as the highway to revenue...

Ian Quarrington 25.1.07