This restaurant was established in about 1989. Small reception area with the main dining room beyond seating 46 on modern pale wood chairs in comfortable, roomy surroundings. Cool decor of pale green (including table cloths), which is an improvement to the ‘boudoir pink’ of my previous visit! Carpet and wall mirrors customised with the word ‘Raj’ prominently displayed. Extensive menu containing all the usuals plus a number of interesting looking dishes under the house specialities.

Popadoms arrived quickly with pickle tray - the usual onion salad, mango and lime chutney, plus a startling, almost luminous green mint raita. Enough artificial colouring in that to paint another wall!! Onion Bazi (sic) comprised 4 small, crisp well spiced bhajias with a good accompanying salad garnish. Chicken Chat was strips of chicken in a thin but quite tasty sauce. Main dishes of Chicken Zollander was extremely bland. Only three chunks of chicken (although fairly large ones) in a rather thin, creamy and quite sickly sauce - similar to Korma made with excess cream and sweet coconut paste but in a thinner sauce. Chicken Dansak (sic) had more chicken than the Zollander but was again in a thin sauce which was very dark for a Dhansak and without the usual consistency the presence of lentils give. There was no obvious sweet/sour taste which I would expect the sugar and lemon juice (as described in the menu) to produce, but it was nice and hot. In fact, my wife decided to mix a reasonable portion of my sauce into her rather insipid Zollander sauce, and the result created was much more to her liking!

The accompanying Niramish was excellent - a good selection of vegetables, lightly cooked to retain their flavour, and subtly spiced. Peshwari Nan OK, but very little fruit within and rather greasy, while the rice was standard stuff (but much larger than standard portions.)

Portions variable - the Zollander could have done with a little more chicken (even if they had cut the three chunks in half to make it appear more), while on the other hand the rice was enormous. The other dishes were all sufficient. Service good, and it was a nice touch to be asked whether we wanted to keep the pickles which had accompanied the popadoms throughout the meal. Prices about average, although I noted that the menu said a 12½% cover charge would be added. It wasn’t, which was as well as it would have bumped the price up well above the average and, in any case, there was nothing special to merit it in a fairly average curry house.

All in all a reasonable meal, although if I went back I would try other dishes from their speciality list and hope they were better than the Zollander!

Malcolm Wilkins - August 1999