Contact Address:
 Website: www.theclayoven.gm
Clay Oven Restaurant 
Satang Jow Road
Fajara (North Atlantic)
PO Box 4337, Bakau
The Gambia
West Africa
Telephone Number: 4496600
Mobile Number:
9915477
Reservations & Home Delivery
4496978
9915477
Email: info@theclayoven.gm
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. See their location
map.
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 sautŽed in butter
ONION BHAJIS
Sliced onions well spiced mixed
wih 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 sautéed with onions and spices
Pilau
Rice is available with the main sauces.
 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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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 16 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 from Monday to Saturday between noon and
four o’clock.
The wonderful a la carte menu offered also from noon each day, but
until late, late in the evening.
The "Sizzlers Night" every Wednesday 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 Vimal’s 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 omlettes, filled
baked potatoes, pepper-steak, lamb chops...
DINNER
Arrival for an evening meal at The Clay Oven is a wise choice. Vimal’s
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 Tanoori 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
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