Lisboa – Royal Spicy Restaurant – Etran de L’Air + King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard

King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard, Howard’s favourite band, is the reason why – the six – are in Lisboa this week.

Today, only two for Curry and three tickets for this evening’s gig at Coliseu dos Recreios.

Royal Spicy Restaurant (Rua do Benformoso 71, 1100-084, Lisboa, Portugal) lies across the street from Taste of Lahore, revisited yesterday. Royal Spicy had caught the eye due to the serving of White Mutton Handi (€11.00 – half).

With a busy day ahead, Hector’s Curry had to be early. We reached Rua do Benformoso at 12.30. Marg led the way down the couple of steps into Royal Spicy, this was clearly quite a pukka Cafe compared to the others visited on this street of Curry. Due to the constant turnover of customers, photographic opperchancities were few. Whilst the facilities, not visited, were downstairs, there was a sink at the counter for people to wash their hands, many did.

The menu, featuring photos of everything, was lengthy. The three photos of Fish Curry almost had me change my mind. However, with the possibility of a – Namkeen – variant on offer, the White Mutton Handi had to be investigated. I soon found what I was looking for then was advised that Paratha is only available for breakfast.

One Plain Naan (€1.20) would suffice as accompaniment. With Coffee & Cake promised to Marg after Hector’s indulgence, she limited her order here to Chaa (€0.99) and a bottle of Still Water (€0.70). Hector, for rehydration purposes, had a litre bottle of Cola (€3.00).

Technically, the Chaa/Chai was only served until noon. No problem.

Food was being dispatched to fellow diners with great efficiency. The wait was not long. The Naan, served in two pieces, was white, light, fluffy and suitably blistered. Beautiful Bread, and why so little would be eaten becomes clear.

White Mutton Handi – Handi De Carneiro Branco

The sheer-white creaminess was instantly off-putting. Fortunately, there were signs of Pepper in the Masala, and no sign of anything – red. That this was a Namkeen Curry remained a possibility. The published photo featured Green Chillies, the Toppings today were the standard Ginger Strips and Coriander. Should I have asked for – Spicy?

The first dip of Naan into the Masala confirmed that the Hector had got it right. The Salt/Seasoning was apparent, and the Pepperiness defined the Dish. Somehow, despite appearing to be bland and creamy, this Curry was not. On replicating my manoeuvres, Marg concurred.

The Meat was partly on-the-bone. A bone count of three, one Sucky, in a mass of Mutton which reached double figures. This was a lot of eating at a time of day when Hector’s appetite had yet to awaken.

I noted – chewy – for the initial pieces of Meat that were tackled. This was far from the Scottish Spring Lamb currently being enjoyed back home. Well cooked Mutton does not have to be this chewy.

To say I struggled, would be an understatement. Each piece of Meat seemed to take twice as long to chew as its predecessor. The real pleasure in this Curry was the dipping of the Naan into the impressive Masala. Diminishing returns were becoming apparent. The more I ate, the less impact I was having on what lay before me. With three pieces of Mutton, and still half the Naan left, the white flag was waived. An hour later, Cheesecake was easily managed at one of Marg’s favourite outlets.

At this point Marg weighed in with the remaining Naan and scooped up a decent amount of the abandoned Masala. Between us, we made an acceptable impact on what, technically, was a portion for two.

To be fair to Royal Spice, despite the Meat being of a lesser standard, had I ordered this, in say Chicken, the mouth would have coped. Knackered – was recorded. Never have I chewed so much.

The various Fish Curry Dishes on offer will guarantee a return to Royal Spice. Surely, less chewing required?

The Bill

€17.29 (£15.56)

The Aftermath

The Calling Card was presented to the chap at the till. When one is asked if one has a shop, then what Curry-Heute is about has not been communicated.

We walked the length of Rua do Benformoso. Tasty Hut Halal food, visited three times, was being renovated. The premises are soon to become Nawaab G.

Next year I shall need time for three Curry outings in Lisboa. Maybe we stay for longer?

Soon it was approaching 20.30, Howard wanted Marg and I to be at Coliseu dos Recreios, a few metres up the street from Inhaca, one of our favourite Portuguese restaurants, where we had dined on Sunday evening. Having attended the shows on the previous two nights, Howard was well in with the promoters and had managed to secure a box for the three of us.

If you don’t ask…

Coliseu dos Recreios resembles the Albert Hall. We were happy not to be in the central standing area, the mosh pit proved to be an unsafe place for people of a certain age. Standing for four hours, no thanks. The twin rows of boxes, may be a hundred plus, above these, another seating area, with another seated gallery above. For the support, we were the only people occupying a box.

Etran de L’Air

Etran de L’Air, from Agadez (Niger), played in Glasgow a bit since. Dressed in their desert garb, no facial recognition possible. Their music, hypnotic, repetitive, took me back to the albums of Manuel Gottsching (Ash Ra Tempel) but with an African twist.

The four compositions performed this evening – Tahawerte ine idinette, Agadez, Agrim Agadez, Imouha – each developed a groove before letting it rip for the final moments. Interesting, entertaining, glad to have seen them live.

King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard

King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard were formed in Australia in 2010. Howard has seen them countless times since then. Sporting a different t-shirt each day this week, Howard discovered that other people had heard of – his band. He needs a new one.

King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard release new music every other week it seems. Their style varies, this evening they avoided any Country references, thankfully. No Country, no Regae, no (c)Rap. Not in these pages. This evening they concentrated on a sound somewhere between Hawkwind on steroids and Shoegaze.

Marg had never witnessed such prolific crowd surfing. From our safe vantage point, amusing. On whatever cue, the central hundred in the mosh pit engaged in uniform antics. Just how good was the box, and by this time, five others were occupied. How dare they?

Musically, a performance which was much appreciated, despite two of us not knowing a single note. Let the – songs – develop, no need to come up for air every few minutes, this is what the Hector seeks in a band. Would I buy their CDs? Where would one start? Tonight, no more than two tracks were played from each of the nine albums represented.

Howard’s assured us that the synth-board does not always make an appearance, we were treated to more – Techno-style Musik – towards the end of the set. As this, one argues, has its roots in 1970s Krautrock, of which this author was on top of the game at the time, nought wrong with that.