JANUARY: the month of cough and sneezes spreading diseases. Well, man flu at any rate.

The Warne household has been struck by the lurgy just as we were congratulating ourselves on having got so far through the winter without so much as a sniff.

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Which is fine because that’s what happens at some point but it’s darned inconvenient when a culinary expedition is required. With a head feeling like it’s been stuffed with cotton wool and nasal cavities similarly afflicted, it’s hard to drum up enthusiasm for a trip out. As for the taste buds, they are almost completely disabled so it’s hardly fair to try to assess the quality of food.

But, of course, there’s always the curry and that’s why we found ourselves at the Taste of India in Bedale, one of two Indian restaurants in the town which rather oddly are almost next door to each other in the Market Place.

We had picked the Taste of India because we recalled several years ago trying to eat there early on a midweek summer’s evening and found it packed. That seemed recommendation enough to make a mental note to return which we did last week, taking the precaution of booking a table in advance.

First impressions were mixed. The Taste of India looks welcoming enough from outside but once inside it was clear from the scrum around the bar/reception area at the front that the takeaway operation is as important to the business as the sit-down diners.

We fought our way through the melee to announce our presence and were shown to a table half-way down the dining area which is narrow and compact. With the kitchen at the rear, there was an almost constant flow of bagged-up takeaway meals to the reception which made it feel more like a canteen than a restaurant. Every time the door to the kitchen was opened, it felt like a wind tunnel.

The lighting didn’t help – a strange combination of bright overhead centre clusters and small coloured wall lights which cast a strange ethereal glow. It didn’t feel remotely cosy and the situation wasn’t helped by the ambient temperature. An adjacent radiator was on but it didn’t seem to be generating much heat.

The Taste of India menu is long, very long. Every conceivable Indian dish was listed along with some we had not come across before.like the house special Kurzi Lamb, a whole leg of lamb marinated in herbs and spices and then slow cooked. Served with nan breads, rice and a number of unspecified side dishes, it serves four people for £89.90. We liked the sound of it, but apart from there being only two of us ordering the dish required 24 hours notice. Next time maybe.

We had decided to skip poppadums in order to do justice to starters and main courses. Syvia kicked off with the old favourite chicken tikka (£3.50) – the tenderest of chicken pieces marinated in a lemony spice mix before cooking. It was served with a little salad and a raita-style mint sauce. Baltilicious, she said.

I had the venison tikka (£4.50) which wasn't as good chiefly because one or two of the pieces were very tough – always a risk with such a lean and unforgiving meat.

Sylvia's main course special mix balti (£8.95) bore comparison with the very first baltis we ever sampled at the place where they became popular in the UK – Birmingham's Ladypool Road – and there can be no higher praise than that. The special mix was chicken, prawn and lamb (although I thought it tasted like beef but maybe that was the effect of the spicing) and the heat was medium.

I had been tempted by something on the list of "chef's recommendations – hot dishes". I asked our friendly waiter to tell me about Sundarban's Special (£10.95) but we could tell me nothing beyond the menu description "a spicy mixture of king prawn, chicken and mixed vegetables in a fairly saucy dish with chillies, garlic and chef's own spices" and that Sundarban was a village in Bangladesh.

A very nice place it must be too if the dish named after it is representative.

To be fair, its appearance was slightly alarming. It looked liked a lumpy green lagoon-like swamp but then a sauce made of liquidised mixed veg, chillis and a small plantation of coriander could only be that vibrantly lush. It was hot and prawns were worthy of their billed status as kings and the chicken was as good as all the rest we had eaten.

We shared a pilau rice (£2.45) and were grateful that we resisted the temptation of poppadums and nans. We were happily full.

Our bill with drinks (two diet Cokes and a large bottle of Cobra lager) was just shy of £40.

My sinuses were crystal clear too.

Taste of India, 32 Market Place, Bedale DL8 1EQ. Tel: 01677 423373/424820. No website

Open: Sunday to Thursday 5.30-11pm, Friday and Saturday 5.30pm-midnight

Disabled access: no steps but cramped interior. Vegetarian options: plenty

Ratings (out of ten): Food quality 9 Service 7 Surroundings 5 Value 7