We're talking "eating Indian", "having a curry" or, in the jocular vernacular, "going for a windy". Now some of those "Ruby lovers" (Ruby Murray – curry in rhyming slang) are advancing in years, so it's time for a trip down memory lane.
But the "which" and "when" of Derby's first Indian restaurant is a little misty. I'd have guessed the late 60s or early 70s, when the town first greeted Asian arrivals in substantial numbers.
But the Evening Telegraph for November 6, 1976, said: "The first Indian restaurant in Derby was opened in Pear Tree Road 15 years ago by two brothers from Bangladesh, Sunuh and Rois Miah".
That suggests a date of 1961. Can anyone recall going there? Certainly a smattering of native Derbeians did give the exotic dishes a try.
The craze caught on and, in time, Indian restaurants (actually many were Pakistani or Bangladeshi) were full of English regulars. The rest is history.
Often suggested as Derby's first is the Shabagh, which was on London Road.
Modesty forbids using its popular nickname! The Telegraph revealed it, too, was run by the Miah boys, opening in a former post office in 1966, after the brothers had moved from Pear Tree Road via Curzon Street.
Arguably the Shabagh was the first Indian in Derby aimed squarely at an English market. The name has gone but the original premises at No 165 houses the recently-opened Mount Everest Gurkha Restaurant, which has added Nepalese cuisine to Derby tables.
Another early candidate fondly recalled was one in the Main Centre in the 1970s but my informant couldn't put a name to it. Any ideas?
One sometimes incorrectly mooted as the first is the legendary Full Moon, on Normanton Road, another ghost from the past.
The Moon opened around 1978 – perhaps the first to be well-known in a wider locality.
Much of its popularity was due to its owner, Kumar Darshan – he called himself David Kumar – who, with his wife, Shanti, and eldest son, Paul, later accompanied by Paul's wife, Kavita, made a special point of welcoming diners like old friends.
That, and the quality cuisine, worked a treat. In the 1980s, the Full Moon became the place to eat Indian in Derby. Celebrities dropped in, too, among them snooker star Steve Davis, actor Bill Maynard of The Gaffer fame, and, more surprisingly, TV's Wonder Woman Lynda Carter – was she really in Derby?
Of course we are talking "eating Indian" only in the modern sense. Our Victorian forebears undoubtedly sampled curried fare in Derby taverns well over a century ago. Recipes were introduced to Britain by well-travelled colonials and their Indian servants, or military men who had served on the sub-continent.
Curried mutton or chops were favourites, plus, of course, the breakfast dish, kedgeree.
Mrs Beeton's famous Book of Household Management (1861) contains quite a few Asian dishes.
The first Indian restaurant in London opened in 1810 – the Hindoostane Coffee House, a very lavish affair. A plaque now marks the site.
The capital's oldest surviving Indian, the Veeraswamy in Regent Street, has been open since 1926.
So Derby was a late starter but is rapidly catching up. Yellow Pages lists more than 50 Indian restaurants in and around Derby, plus countless takeaways, and they are rising by the year.
Britain currently has 8,000 Indian restaurants. Not even the credit crunch can deny a curry junkie those spicy nights of pleasure.
Can you recall any early Indian restaurants? Perhaps you have photographs or memories of a particular favourite? Either way, we would love to hear your recollections of Derby and district's celebrated "curry culture".
I wonder where a plaque would be erected to mark Derby's first Indian restaurant?
Article from Derby Evening Telegraph - Monday, November 17, 2008