THOSE whose opinions I value - they number few, but do exist - have spoken highly of Saffron. It's a curry house set back on a nondescript stretch of the Wolverhampton Road - the sort of place you'd not give a second glance as you drove past in search of Groaty Dick, pork scratchings or some similar Black Country delicacy. Step inside and the decor is modern and spare in the style of many contemporary Indian restaurants. Service is friendly, courteous and helpful. But it's the food that sets Saffron apart. I'd eaten here before ages ago but it hadn't stuck in my mind. Maybe it's improved. Maybe my tastebuds are better tuned. But certainly I now rate it highly. Poppadoms - spiced and plain - were exemplary in their crispness. The chopped onion, yoghurt and mango chutney alongside were zingy. But it was my starter that made me sit up and take notice for this was a fine dish prettily presented. Machli bhujia combined flakes of grilled cod with tomato, onion, chilli and spices in a small mound bound together, I think, with yoghurt. It was a feisty dish brimming with vibrant flavours kept in check by dots of sweet beetroot sauce and, below the mound, a rice cake that tasted rather like unsugared Rice Krispies. My wife Lynn went for a heftier option - masala dosa, rice pancake filled with spiced potato and served with tomato and coconut chutney. It was well received. Likewise our son Ewan enjoyed onion pakora while brother Murray was impressed by pani puree, those puffed hollow pastries filled with lentils and potato. Main courses, though good, didn't quite reach the same heights. Tawe ki bathak was almost fabulous. Most of the duck breast I was served was meltingly tender, but a couple of slices were chewy. The meat had been pot roasted in a dark sauce fragrant with aniseed, tamarind and garlic. But I thought it needed more of a chilli punch. Lack of oomph was a criticism levelled by Lynn at her vegetable and cheese dumplings, which came in a creamy sauce. Murray, too, thought his dish of chicken breast, green pepper, onion, tomato and spice could have done with more chilli, though he said it was good. Ewan had no complaints about his rich chicken dish heavily flavoured the fenugreek leaves. A shared bowl of a vegetarian dish combing lentils and beans was good and hearty, with a good whack of that whiffy flavouring asafoetida. Here's a place that came within a chilli seed of gaining a fourth star, but instead gets a very good three because the spicing in the main courses - deft as it was - seemed a touch bland. Our bill also included rice, breads and drinks. HOW MUCH? £75 for four.VEGETARIANS? Plenty of choice. CHILD FRIENDLY? Yes. DISABLED ACCESS? Fine. PARKING? Own car park. GO BACK? Yes. Where? 909 Wolverhampton Road, Oldbury. 0121 552 1752. | 
