 
Contact Address:
Clay
Oven Restaurant 
Satang Jow Road, Banjul area
Fajara M Section
Booster Station (North Atlantic)
PO Box 4337, Bakau
The Gambia, West Africa
Tel no: +220 449 6600 Reservations
Mobile:
7973535 Home Delivery
9950705
Email: info@theclayoven.gm
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Review:
The Clay Oven
Restaurant has now been serving in The Gambia genuine
Indian food to eat in or take-away for many years now
and is one of the best Indian restaurants in Gambia.
The main restaurant is exquisitely furnished and has
a seating capacity for 70 diners. There are also private
rooms for up to 20 people as well as wheelchair access
from the side entrance.
In 1992 "The Sunday People" described "The
Clay Oven" as "...the best Indian restaurant
in Africa...."
For over 25 years your host, Vimal, has welcomed discerning
gourmands to this quiet and efficient eating house to
enjoy genuine Indian cuisine, and also, in no small
way, has re-educated people who expect the menu to describe
food as "Madras" "Vindaloo" or "Korma".
There is more to the spectacular variety of Indian food
than could ever be summed up in a few trite words.
And there is much more to The Clay Oven than can be
conveyed by the word "restaurant".
Lunch in the Tamarind Garden is from Monday to Saturday
between 12.00 p.m. to 3.00 p.m. and for dinner from
6pm onwards.
The wonderful a la carte menu offered also from noon
each day, but until late, late in the evening.
The "Sizzlers Night" every Tuesday evening.
Not a buffet, but a continuous service to your table
of a myriad of tandoori delicacies until you say "
Stop! I cannot eat any more"
Sunday afternoon drinks cocktails, conversation and
company, and Indian tapas, (snacks) made to order, created
to suit your taste.
There is a Buffet dinner service for parties in your
own home.
At lunchtime, share a roti with chicken tikka. The vegetables
and the oven-cooked meat marinated in one of Vimals
secret mixtures. Like the iron fist in the velvet glove,
it hits you, but it does not hurt.
Vimal, while zealously guarding his recipes, discusses
your meal with you and ensures that every dish is to
your preferred taste.
Try the Tamarind Fish, a morning-fresh steak of ladyfish
topped with chilli ragout consisting of a crunchy, stir-fried
mixture of vegetables. Try the speciality baguettes,
or the omelettes, filled baked potatoes, pepper-steak,
lamb chops...
Dinner
Arrival for an evening meal at The Clay Oven is a wise
choice. Vimals promise of "anticipation, consumption
and remembrance" is well kept.
For a starter try Amba Chingri, sauted with mango, green
pepper and tomatoes with plump prawns.
Then enjoy the Tandoori mixed grill from the tandoor
(from the clay oven). Or Murg Masala, chicken cooked
in spices and a thick sauce. Accompany this with Naan
bread instead of rice.
Enjoy the pickles, the mango chutney, and there is a
tamand and date sauce which I swear is addictive
Vimal accompanies all dishes personally to your table.
Take particular note when he identifies the hot chilli
sauce for you. This man has a serious regard for your
health and happiness!
Best!
This calm and mature, delightfully, casually formal
restaurant is probably still the best Indian restaurant
in Africa...and for a long time to come.
Food
writer: Harmattan
Directions:
 It
is just off the Atlantic Road just after the British
High Commission and you take your second turning on
the right just before the Booster Station Extension
and behind the VSO office.
Opening Hours:
LUNCH:
12:00 noon to 3:00pm
DINNER:
7:00pm-11:30pm
Seven days a week
Menu Overview:
Shuruaat
Hors D'Oeuvers
Jeera Alu
Sliced potatoes spiced with
cumin and mixed spices
Mixed Pakoras
Selection of mixed vegetables deep fried with gram flour
batter
Jeera Murg
Chicken wings cooked with cumin and mixed spices
Samosa
Triangles of crispy pastry filled with vegetable or
meat
Tari Machchi
Pieces of fish marinated
and deep fried
Chingri Shashlick
Prawns marinated in spices
and sauted in butter
Onion Bhajis
Sliced onions well spiced mixed
with gram flour and deep fried
Alu Wada
Spicy mashed potatoes deep fried
in gram flour batter
Chingri Pakora
Queen prawns marinated and
deep fried in spicy gram flour batter
Kaleji
Fresh lamb's liver sautιed with onions and spices
Pilau Rice is available with the main sauces.
Desserts:
Badam Pista Kulfi
Oriental ice-cream with almonds, ground cardamom seeds
and pistachio nuts
Mango Kulfi
Oriental ice cream made with mango pulp
Chocolate
Kula
bitter chocolate on ice-cream
Gulab Jabun
Miniature semolina cakes puffed and deep-fried served
with syrup
Kheer
An in-house special rice pudding with nuts and saffron
Gajjer Halwa
Freshly grated carrots with almonds, pistachios and
raisins
Fresh Fruit Salad
Diced and served with ice-cream
Chocolate
and Pecan Pie
Chokito
Chocolate served with shaped rice vanilla ice-cream
Tandoori Chicken:
Their curry can be made either very hot and spicy, or
medium hot to very mild. If in doubt over your selection
the staff are very helpful and are all too happy to
help you in your through the available menu of their
dishes to go with your preferred.
In Tandoori ovens charcoal is used for the fire which
gives a fairly consistent temperature. It is the smoke
from the charcoal gives the chicken or beef its unique
taste and aroma.
The Dum Phukt method of cooking uses dough to seal the
container with the ingredients which is then placed
into a Tandoor oven enabling all flavours being released
from the herbs and spices to be kept.
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