A much larger restaurant than it appears from outside, seating at least 120. Pleasant ambience, decor and seating arrangements with many tables being circular to comfortably accommodate 4 or 6 people although plenty of smaller tables for two. A piano in the waiting area played spasmodically throughout the evening although I’m not sure whether this is at weekends only. Clean, tiled toilets above the average found in high street Indian restaurants.

Efficient service with plenty of waiters dressed in smart uniforms, although not over friendly (not many smiles). Service of drinks (expensive!) a bit pushy (ie asking if we wanted another before the first one was finished) and a curious way of serving my wife a glass of water. It came in a pint mug - a surprisingly inelegant way to serve a lady water in such an above average style of restaurant!

A good menu with all the traditional dishes plus a few different additions. However, views on the food were mixed. The Popadoms were fine but the accompanying pickle selection poor - three types only being diced cucumber & onion, a bland pinkish sauce which could easily have been a mix of salad cream and tomato ketchup, and a sweetish puree which was presumably mango. The starters were the most disappointing area. Chicken Chat not particularly spicy although had a tangy flavour. Onion Bhajias good - fairly spicy and crisp but no raita with it. Kakra Chop (allegedly minced crab meat with mashed potato spiced) had little evidence of crab meat, either in taste or texture, and was more like two small potato cakes perhaps with just a hint of crab paste! Chicken Pakra was tasty although the recipient thought the surrounding batter too soft. The salad garnish which normally accompany such starters was very disappointing for such a restaurant - just a few shreds of limp lettuce and a single thin slice of tomato.

The main courses were much better. My Kadi Gosht was hotly spiced without being too severe on the tongue, and very tasty. The Bagari Gosht was also very tasty, again quite hotly spiced but less so than the Kadi, and with an interesting sweetish flavour. Lamb Palok and Chicken Tikka Masala both very good (my wife, who often has CTM, considered it above average). Mixed Vegetable Curry a bit disappointing - extremely oily (we could spoon the oil from the top) and not much selection of vegetables, one of which was an overly amount of Brussels Sprouts. A surfeit of sprouts don’t do a vegetable curry any favours in my view! Mushroom Bhaji was good, and much less greasy than the mixed vegetable. We had also ordered Brinjal Bhaji but surprisingly they hadn’t got any aubergine. Other accompaniments - Rice, Chapattis, Paratha all standard stuff, but Peshwari Nan was poor as it was much smaller than usual and no almonds in the filling as described in the menu.

Portions good and well balanced between starters and main course - ie starters were adequate without being over large while the main courses were ample with plenty of meat. Vegetable dishes a little on the small side of average. Prices a bit higher than usual but understandable given the style of restaurant and locality. Drinks expensive and a 10% service charge is automatically added to the bill.

Malcolm Wilkins - May 1998