Sampling an authentic local curry is a must on the itinerary of any first-time visitor to Durban. With our Californian friends Ellie and Steve due to arrive in a couple of weeks, it behoved us to suss out the best place to take them.

First up, with daughter Wendy as the third member of the judging panel, we drove 20 minutes north from Umhlanga, Durban to the Sea Belle at Desainagar Beach, Tongaat, traditionally an Indian area. Mostly, the place came to mind because my sister Dale – also due to join us soon from London – had mentioned an ardent desire for its famous prawn curry.

Though both Roy and I used to go there for lunch (separately), neither of us had been for 30 years or more. I remembered ageing furnishings, drinking copious amounts while waiting hours for the food to arrive*, and a winking disco ball that hinted at sweaty weekend discos.

(* Conspiracy theorists like me believed keeping customers waiting was a deliberate ploy to increase profits from the bar.)

Though it’s been remodelled since the 70s and 80s – arguably its heyday – you wouldn’t go there for the décor. Functional floor tiles, laminate-topped tables and wide-opened windows have replaced my memories of cigarette-burned carpeting, grubby tablecloths and dusty curtains. They’ve moved the entrance from the roadside to the back, and the dance floor is now in the centre of the long, barn-like interior. Over it still hangs a disco ball – albeit an updated LED version – now promising Saturday night festivities along with an all-you-can-eat curry buffet.

So, how was the food?

• Ten out of ten for the papadums. Many Indian eateries serve them with sort of dip or chutney, but these were divine just as they came, straight from the pan.

• Full marks too for the super-tasty mutton and bean curry; we also ordered the less-than-memorable chicken and prawn curry and the fairly good fish curry – such generous portions, however, that the three of us didn’t manage to empty the bowls.

• Side dishes were mediocre: a vast vat of overcooked Tastic rice; a couple of mediocre rotis; and a bland salad of iceberg lettuce and grated carrot – neither atchars, sambals nor fresh-chopped chillies were available.

From the short, cheap wine list, Roy chose the short, cheap Graça (R75 – yes, per 750ml bottle; divide by ten for the Aussie or Singapore dollar). We rounded off the meal with a Dom Pedro (R40), probably South Africa’s best dessert. This one was phenomenal: a double shot of Jameson whizzed up with a few scoops of ice cream – the perfect end to a Sunday curry lunch that cost a total of R650 for the three of us.

The verdict? We would not be taking Ellie and Steve to the Seabelle. Nostalgia aside, if we were going to head up the North Coast we might as well drive ten minutes farther to Impulse by the Sea at Tinley Manor Beach. (Click here for my previous post on that great establishment.)

Then I read a great New York Times article titled 15 Curries in Five Days – for curry lovers it’s well worth a read – that praised the curry restaurant at the the old Britannia Hotel in Umgeni Road, Durban. My mother remembers the hotel from the 50s, and says it wasn’t new then.

There’s quite a lot of off-road parking manned with car guards, and the entrance is around the back of the building. The bar area looks OK, but the restaurant interior is less than lovely – gloomy, no natural light, and dominated by the football on a huge TV screen.

Service was slick, however, and the food was utterly and authentically delicious.

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We forgot to order papadums, and went straight – well, via a couple of bottles of Windhoek Light – to the point. Both the mutton curry and the bean curry were outstanding. To the carrot salad and rice that they came with, we added some sambals laced with fresh green chillies (R6 per serving) and one impeccable naan (R21). And the leftover beans proved just as good for a supper snack as they’d been for lunch.