Not every curry mission begins in a curry house.
Sometimes it begins with a week away in Filey, a fellow Curry Bible member, a country pub, a suspiciously massive menu, and the sudden discovery that the place serves curry with the confidence of somewhere that knows exactly what it is doing.
On a recent trip to the Yorkshire coast, Curry Bible members Damon and Curt visited The Foxhound Inn in Flixton, near Scarborough.
The Foxhound is not a curry house.
It is a traditional pub-restaurant serving the kind of menu that covers everything from pub classics and roasts to burgers, grills, breakfasts and belly-filling British plates. Public listings describe it as a welcoming pub-restaurant, and CAMRA notes that it is known for home-cooked meals, huge portions and a spacious car park.
And then, buried among the pub food and giant plates of British comfort, came the curry option that dragged it straight into Cool Curries territory.
No official Curry Bible score.
No leaderboard movement.
No full-team judgement.
Just two Curry Bible members, one coastal side quest, and a pub curry that arrived like it had been sent to test the structural integrity of the table.
Quick Facts
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Venue | The Foxhound Inn |
| Location | Flixton, near Scarborough |
| Address | Main Street, Flixton, Scarborough, YO11 3UB |
| Review Type | Cool Curries |
| Cool Curries Entry | #03 |
| Curry Bible Score | Unscored |
| Scored Review? | No |
| Show on Leaderboard? | No |
| Show on Curry Map? | Yes |
| Attendees | Damon and Curt |
| Dish Highlight | Hydrabadi curry |
| Price Noted | £19 |
| Best For | Huge pub curry, coastal side quest, value for money, John Smith’s and a massive feed |
| Website | https://www.thefoxhoundinn-scarborough.foodanddrinksites.co.uk/ |
The Order
The dish that caught our attention was the Hydrabadi — Hot.
Price: £19
Choice of:
| Choice | Option |
|---|---|
| Meat | Marinated chicken tikka |
| Seafood | Marinated king prawns |
Served with:
| Included |
|---|
| Fresh garlic and coriander naan |
| Rice |
| Poppadom |
| Mango chutney |
| Homemade mint yoghurt |
| Homemade chips |
This was not one of those sad little pub curry attempts where a lonely bowl of sauce arrives with six grains of rice and the emotional weight of a microwave ping.
This was a full deployment.
The menu described the Hydrabadi as a rich, aromatic curry with a creamy texture and back notes of chilli blends. It also listed a serious spice cabinet of flavour: garlic, cumin, garam masala, chillies, ginger, cinnamon, black pepper, cardamom, bay leaf, nutmeg and fenugreek leaves.
That is not normal pub curry language.
That is “someone in the kitchen has either got ambition or a direct line to Aagrah” language.
The Aagrah connection makes sense too. Aagrah Foods describes its Hydrabadi Tarka paste as creating a rich, creamy and highly aromatic dish, and its wider Tarka range is built around authentic Kashmiri-style cooking bases.
First Impressions
The first thing to say is simple:
This was ridiculous value for money.
For £19, you did not receive a plate of food.
You received a table management problem.
The Hydrabadi arrived across two large plates, which is always a dangerous sign. One plate says “meal.” Two plates says “you’ve made choices today and now you must live with them.”
The portion size was beyond generous.
It was not big.
It was not huge.
It was not even enormous.
It was stupid.
And that is meant as praise.
This is the sort of meal where you start off confident, halfway through you begin negotiating with yourself, and by the end you are staring into the middle distance wondering whether breakfast tomorrow is still legally required.
The Curry Itself
The Hydrabadi was described as hot, and it had enough going on to justify the label without becoming a daft heat contest.
The best curries do not just attack your face. They build. They roll. They leave you finding different flavours as you work through the plate.
This had that.
The creamy base gave it weight, but the chilli notes kept it alive. The garlic, ginger and garam masala gave it proper curry depth, while the warmer spices — cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg and bay — gave it that rich, aromatic feel that stops a curry becoming one-dimensional.
It was not just sauce and heat.
There was actual flavour in there.
The chicken tikka option made sense too. Pub curries can sometimes go badly wrong when the meat feels like it has been thrown in as an afterthought, but this had enough about it to make the dish feel complete rather than assembled.
The Full Spread
The sides deserve a mention because this is where the value really starts getting silly.
Rice.
Garlic and coriander naan.
Poppadom.
Mango chutney.
Homemade mint yoghurt.
Homemade chips.
That is not a side order.
That is a support act.
The homemade chips are especially important because they move the whole thing into proper Yorkshire pub-curry territory.
Some curry purists may sneer at chips with curry.
Those people are wrong.
Chips belong in this kind of meal. Especially when the curry is rich, hot and creamy. A chip dragged through curry sauce is not a crime.
It is common sense.
Drinks
And then there is the most important detail.
They served John Smith’s.
Automatic win.
No further evidence required.
A curry mission is always improved by a proper pint, and John Smith’s being present means The Foxhound earns an immediate nod of approval from the Curry Bible table.
Is it scientific?
No.
Is it fair?
Also no.
Does it matter?
Not at all.
Value for Money
This is where The Foxhound really makes its case.
£19 is not cheap if you are expecting a small pub curry.
But that is the wrong way to look at it.
For £19, this Hydrabadi was served as a full meal with multiple sides and enough food to make a grown adult start quietly planning a three-day fast.
In 2026, plenty of places will happily charge nearly the same for a much smaller main and then make you pay extra for rice, naan and anything resembling joy.
This felt like actual value.
The rule is simple:
If your curry arrives on two large plates, value for money is no longer up for debate.
Why This Belongs in Cool Curries
The Foxhound Inn is not a curry house, so it cannot be judged like one.
It does not belong in the main Curry Bible UK rankings, and it should not receive an official Curry Bible score.
But Cool Curries exists for exactly this sort of thing.
A country pub near the coast serving a hot Hydrabadi with Aagrah-style confidence, massive portions, proper sides and John Smith’s on the table?
That is absolutely worth documenting.
This was not delicate dining.
This was not fine-dining nonsense with three dots of sauce and a flower petal.
This was a big, bold, belly-filling pub curry that turned up wearing steel toe-caps and asked whether you were actually hungry or just pretending.
Final Thoughts
The Foxhound Inn does not need to be a curry house to earn a place in Curry Bible history.
It served a Hydrabadi that was rich, hot, aromatic, packed with sides and so aggressively portioned that it could probably feed a small committee.
Go in with a light wallet and an even lighter belly.
Because this thing will not just fill you up.
It will make you question whether you need to eat again before Thursday.
Visit The Foxhound Inn Flixton
Website: https://www.thefoxhoundinn-scarborough.foodanddrinksites.co.uk/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/p/The-Foxhound-inn-100051574483751/
Address: Main Street, Flixton, Scarborough, YO11 3UB
CAMRA listing: Foxhound Inn, Flixton.
