Summary (by AI): I felt a deep sense of nostalgia and surprise while revisiting the Hook Tandoori, a legendary spot from my past that provided a fantastic meal despite it being over twenty years since my last visit.
Blog: The story of the Hook Tandoori starts back when we were all becoming "proper" grown-ups. A couple of my friends moved out of London to Hook in Hampshire, and when we went down to visit them, it was a bit of a "wow" moment. You know that feeling—seeing people actually leave London and start their adult lives elsewhere. It turned out their local restaurant was the Hook Tandoori, and we had some truly fantastic meals there. Since then, it has taken on a legendary, almost mythical status among my circle of friends—and certainly in my own mind.
So therefore, when I was looking at Jalfreizei in Hampshire for the blog, there was really only one choice. It had to be the Hook Tandoori. I engineered a little visit for myself, involving a bike ride (which you can read about elsewhere on the blog) and a stay-over at my friend's place so we could revisit our old haunt.
Now, if you know me well, you’ll know that I keep a restaurant database. It’s not really a blog; it’s more of a personal archive of every place I’ve been over the last 30 years. I have literally thousands of restaurants in there. Out of curiosity, I had a quick look back to see when I’d last been to the Hook Tandoori, and I was absolutely gobsmacked.
The last time was 2003.
That’s over 20 years ago. Despite the fact that this place holds such a legendary spot in my head, and I could have sworn I’d been back many times, it turns out this was only my sixth visit. The previous five all took place between 2001 and 2003. It just goes to show how quickly time flies; I truly couldn't believe it had been that long.
We had a great meal, regardless. It was the Thursday before Good Friday—a lovely, sunny evening—and the place was busy, really busy. It was wonderful to catch up with university friends and tuck into a Lamb Jalfrezi. You really can’t beat it.
The Map: