The eponymous Indian takeaway restaurant in The Golden Cobra (BBC iPlayer, on demand) is not somewhere you’d want to place an order.
Episode one of the short-form animated comedy opens with a rat eating a morsel of naan bread off a filthy kitchen floor, only to be gruesomely and graphically squished by the cricket bat of owner Basil, who later uses said bloodied bat to stir a huge vat of curry.
No wonder the Cobra has earned the title of Ebbw Vale’s worst curry house. Later, Basil orders son Jub to fetch some korma from the freezer. “But it says 1988, I think it’s gone off,” Jub worries. “It will be fine if it’s frozen,” Basil replies.
If that grosses you out, it’s surely the intention. The lo-fi animation sets out to disgust – a visiting health inspector later dies on site after being force-fed meat from a can labelled “assorted pet entrails stored humbly in tins”. It takes clear cues from South Park, viral Flash videos of the early 2000s and dark animated web series Salad Fingers.
There is nevertheless some warmth and humour that will be relatable to anyone working in the restaurant or food delivery sectors. Like the episode when the Cobra’s staff have to brainstorm ways to compete with a new curry house over the road run by the media-savvy and slimy Ernish.
“Bro, I’m just a humble chef at the service of this wonderful community,” he says, smugly.
Or the way everyone has to deal with the frequently violent temper of hot-headed, chain-smoking Basil.
But the majority of laughs here come with a retch.
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