This restaurant has a plethora of diplomas and certificates in the window proclaiming its excellence. No doubt many people are impressed with this despite the fact that selling prestigious looking certificates to Indian restaurants without any check on the restaurant itself is a widespread, and unfortunately perfectly legal, commercial activity. I found the number of certificates a bit excessive to be credible, and apart from a Curry Club sticker, which does not fall into the ‘bogus certificate syndrome’ category, I would view them all with some scepticism. Perhaps they are there to compete with another Indian restaurant (Mak’s Curry Nest) a few doors along which has an equal, if not greater amount of stickers in the window (although not the authentic Curry Club sticker!).

Once past the stickered door and windows the restaurant seats about 60 in standard layout. Seating fairly comfortable, but the tables are set quite close together. Pleasant decor, although when we were there the Indian music was much too loud - very distracting and impinging on conversation. A good, comprehensive menu with a few dishes additional to the standard restaurant selection.

Popadoms came with a good selection of pickles, including one with an interesting tandoori flavour. However, we were both slightly disappointed with the spicing and flavouring of the dishes. My Chicken Chat comprised several large lumps of chicken (clearly the same as used for all chicken dishes and not the smaller pieces or thin strips that this dish requires) in a mild, red sauce which lacked the expectant bite (the menu describes it as a tamarind sauce, but it was more like a plain tomato sauce). My friend’s Rashmi Kebab was similarly not very spicy, rather like a Wimpey hamburger coated in egg. Chicken Dhansak was OK and fairly hot, but two large wedges of cooked lemon in my dish (masquerading as chicken?) gave it too heavy a lemon flavour. The Meat Bhuna was excellent in appearance - nicely dry and dark - and the lamb tender, but much too sharp a flavour. It tasted as though it had been cooked in far too much tamarind (and I do not associate tamarind with this dish) and was very, very sharp. The Dry Mixed Sabji was excellent, while the Rice and Parathas standard offerings.

Portions were quite sufficient and although having to remind the waiter several times for a jug of water the rest of the service was fine.

Finally, there is a ‘customer satisfaction’ questionnaire on the back of their take-away menu which asks for customer views. I think this is a good practice, and one which I hope is used. (Indeed, I sent the manager, Mr Shahin Ali, a copy of this report which I hope he found useful feedback. I did not get a reply)

Will I go back? Well, I wouldn’t mind giving it another go to see whether this meal was their normal standard, but there are many other restaurants in the Medway area as well as elsewhere so it may be some time before I do return.

Malcolm Wilkins - August 1998