Nipoori Tandoor Oven Barbecue

I've loved my old Nipoori tandoor since I bought it in 2002. I've pretty much worn it out after years of use, and was delighted to find an 'improved' model back on the market.

After a three month delay between order and delivery, the new one finally arrived, and it's a very mixed blessing. Replacing the mild steel legs and supports with stainless will make a big long-term difference; but the quality of the rest of the components is extremely poor.

The softwood wooden handles were the first to go on the old one - I replaced mine with oak, which is still in excellent condition. The new handles are not only softwood - they're unvarnished, poorly turned, roughly finished and don't even match. Ditto the skewer handles: two of them had protruding splinters, and two chips out of the wood.

The worst offender, though, is the casing. The old one was solid, and is still going after nine years. The new one is 2mm thinner and patchily cast, with obvious patches and lumps of filler daubed on to cover indentations where the cast wasn't filled correctly. Also, the blach finish on the outside is covered in unsightly indelible markings from the bubble wrap in which it was wrapped before it was fully dry. I really don't believe they know about quality control in China.

An interesting point: six friends who ate food prepared in my original Nipoori promptly went out and bought one: the same friends, inspecting this one closely, said they wouldn't touch it with a barge pole.

The company really isn't doing itself any favours.

What a great barbecue, the Nipoori is in fact a combination of a Tandoor Oven and a traditional open BBQ. It's really simple to use and produces great results. All you do is light charcoal in the bottom, give it 20 minutes to get going then put the oven hood on and give it a few minutes to warm up. Then load up your Nipoori skewers and place in through the top. Within five minutes you have fantastically tasty Tandoori Kebabs, great for fish, chicken, beef, vegetables and even fruit.

The big problem has been availability but I've just found them at www.socal.co.uk here's a link;

http://www.socal.co.uk/Barbecues/Nipoori_Tandoori/Nipoori_Tandoor_Oven/523/18342

Bloody fantastic..best £150 ever spent!

The Nipoori Tandoor Oven Barbecue is quick, versatile and it produced a truly authentic flavour. There were not enough skewers provided, but it is a brilliant product, and I couldn't be without mine. My local Tandoori house must be doing his nut.