With the enduring cost-of-living crisis making meals out something of a luxury, it is hardly surprising to see the trend for ‘bottomless’ dining continuing to spread.

In recent times our reviewers have been out to sample unlimited offerings of sushi and barbecue. And the appeal is clear. With disposable income squeezed, there is something reassuring about knowing you’ll pay a fixed price for a meal that is guaranteed to leave you satisfied when the time comes to settle the bill.

So it was no surprise when an email dropped into my inbox from The Cook’s Tale in Canterbury promoting its bottomless thali nights. And it was no shock that I jumped at the chance to head down to the restaurant on Beer Cart Lane and avail myself of this offer, being a lover of both a bargain and a banging curry.

The Cook’s Tale is the surviving remnant of the Ambrette empire built by owner-chef Dev Biswal, which at one point had outposts in Margate and Rye, as well as in the cathedral city. The Canterbury restaurant was rebranded last year, after Mr Biswal decided to focus all his efforts on a single location.

It also marked the first time in his award-winning career that the chef decided to offer ‘curry’ on his menu, having previously avoided the generic term for richly-varied culinary styles of the Indian subcontinent. Call it what you like, but from previous visits to the Canterbury and Margate restaurants, I knew we’d be in for an evening of delicious flavours.

And what is thali, I hear you ask. It refers not to the food itself, but the method of serving a range of smaller dishes on a large dish or platter. No debate about rice or naan, lamb or chicken – here you get the chance to combine a range of dishes to create a perfectly balanced meal.

After being seated at our table, we were first presented with a small starter of delicately-spiced pea and coriander soup and crispy naan. Just the thing to tide us over as we looked enviously at the thali sets being consumed on tables around us.

Did I mention that for an extra £10 you can enjoy unlimited beer, wine and cocktails? We opted for the mango punch, which delivered heaps of tropical flavour as well as a satisfyingly boozy kick. Of the choices of meat, seafood and vegetable thali, we opted for one of meat and one of seafood, safe in the knowledge that we’d be able to try a little of everything – and a little bit more if anything particularly took our fancy.

Having polished off the amuse-bouche and drained our first drink of the evening, we were soon presented with our thali by Mr Biswal. He talked us through the best way to consume the feast that sat before us. Remove a few of the individual dishes from the platter, get the rice and curry mingling on the plate, and let the flavours combine for full effect.

I started with the meat thali, which really did contain all the elements you know and love from the curry house. Poppadoms, rice and pillowy naan bread. Butter chicken and lamb rogan josh. A delicate homemade samosa, curried vegetables and lentils. In no time I was mopping up the delicious sauce with the naan, and raiding each little dish with my fork, every mouthful bursting with flavour.

In the mood to try as many of the creations on offer, we switched up our drinks order and moved on to the Rajasthani mojitos. My dining companion, whose palate is far more sophisticated than my own, noted the use of tamarind to give this classic cocktail that signature Asian twist. Delicious, and incredibly moreish, we did go back for a second.

The seafood thali was going down a storm too. The platter featured a number of the same accompaniments as the meat option, but with a fish curry and a perfectly done fillet of seabass.

Our first helping devoured, we were asked if we would like anything more. Here I must confess to suffering a minor misunderstanding of the ‘bottomless’ concept, which I will happily blame on the aforementioned kick in those cocktails. We could probably have requested top-ups of individual elements of the thali, but with greedy abandon I simply asked to be brought a whole new round of the seafood platter.

I savoured the seabass and tucked into the fish curry, but in truth there is only so much naan bread a man can consume in one sitting. Stuffed to the gills, sadly some of my second round of thali was left unfinished, much to my shame as someone who usually rails against the evil of food waste. But it had been a magnificent meal, and at £39.99 a head for as much food and drink as you could polish off it was a great value night out.

The bottomless thali menu is available at The Cook’s Tale every Thursday night, and if like me you are a fan of a great deal and a perfectly-prepared curry I would highly recommend you give it a try.

Out of five:

Food: Everything was absolutely delicious, and the thali concept meant we got to try a little of everything *****

Drink: It’s difficult to argue with drinks that keep flowing for just £10, and the cocktails we tried were all a perfect accompaniment to the spicy delights on our plate ****

Decor: Housed in what was once a city centre pub, the restaurant is nicely put together ***

Staff: Everyone was welcoming and the service, with a couple of slight miscommunications over drinks orders, was as you’d hope it to be ****

Price: As much food and drink as you like for £40 a head is about as good as you can expect in the current economic climate, especially when it all tastes as good as this *****