When Paul and I moved to Towcester in 1998, the choice of restaurants in the town was limited to a Chinese, two Indian restaurants and a few pubs which did very basic food.

For those of you not familiar with Towcester, it is a market town in South Northamptonshire, a few miles down the road from Silverstone and it is pronounced ‘Toaster’ not Tow-ces-ter!!!

The town is rapidly expanding, which means we have a whole host of new bars and restaurants opening up. We now have two Turkish restaurants, a third Indian restaurant, a Tapas wine bar, two gastro pubs, a gourmet burger place and even our own micro brewery!!

Having already sampled the first Turkish restaurant, The Olive Tree, we decided to try the new kid on the block, Truva Charcoal Bar and Grill. It is located just off the busy high street in a modern quiet courtyard which provides the option of alfresco dining.

We booked a table for four on a Friday evening and were seated straight away on arrival, despite the fact it was pretty full. We opted to eat inside and were shown to a lovely table by the window.

For starters we decided to go for for the Mixed Hot Meze to share. The menu doesn’t actually tell you what makes up the Mixed Meze which was a bit odd, it would be better if they added that detail to the menu. However, we asked the waitress and she explained it came with Calamari. I have a shellfish and fish allergy, so we asked if this could be served separately. She checked with the chef but unfortunately it is all cooked in the same fryer, so I was unable to join the Meze party!! Instead I ordered the Feta cheese starter.

Don’t get me wrong, it was good that she went and checked with the kitchen, and that they understood cooking it in the same oil is a problem for me. I just think in this day and age, restaurants need to fully cater for people with allergies and other dietary requirements. It only needs a separate fryer after all!

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Allergy issues aside, my Feta cheese was amazing. Nothing like you get in a tub or plastic wrapper from the local supermarket. It packed a real punch, deliciously salty, crumbly and strong in flavour, there was even enough to convince me to share!! The rest of the party tucked into the Mixed Meze platter. The general consensus was that the spicy sausage was the best part of the dish but they enjoyed all of it.

For mains I chose the Izgara Kofta, or grilled lamb meatballs to you and me, with a tangy tomato sauce. Our friends went for the ‘Chefs Special’ for two, a sharing board with chicken shish, lamb shish, adana kebab, chicken wings, and lamb ribs…meat sweats alert!! Paul had the Adana Kebab, which is minced lamb skewered over charcoal.

My meatballs were nice and juicy, lots of herbs and seasoning and not at all oily which can be a worry with lamb. The Chef’s Special was absolutely huge, I mean our friend is built like the Incredible Hulk with an appetite to match, but even he struggled to finish it! Paul’s might not have looked that aesthetically appealing, but he said it was lovely.

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Then came the chilli incident!!!! On each plate was a very large green pepper of some sort. We had a little debate on the table and decided it wasn’t a chilli but a pepper. So Paul took a nice big mouthful….he immediately started hiccuping and reaching for the water proclaiming it to be a ‘bit spicy’!!

Next our friend tried it with exactly the same effect. I thought maybe they were making a bit of a fuss, so I cut off the tiniest piece and in it went. OMG it was like someone blowtorching the inside of my mouth, eyes watering, gulping down water…much regret and the acceptance they hadn’t actually been making a mountain out of a molehill after all!! I think it might be prudent to warn unsuspecting diners about the chilli moving forwards!

After consuming our combined body weight in cheese and meat, we decided not to indulge in dessert. We asked for the bill which came presented in a very quaint little wooden chest, a nice touch I thought. The overall bill was £150 with tip, which included two bottles of a cheeky little Malbec, so very reasonable indeed. We will definitely be back.

Prices

Starters range from £4.20 and £13.95. Individual Mains from £13.50 to 17.95 or sharing platters from £19.95 for two people to £58.95 for four people. The wine menu ranges from £15.90 a bottle to £29.95 for champagne. The Malbec we opted for was £23.90.