THE GANDHI, 66 WEST STREET

This restaurant opened in September 1996 in premises which were previously a small pub although completely gutted and refurbished and bearing little resemblance inside to the original pub. The attractively produced menu is extensive and different, listing number of imaginative and interesting dishes plus a good vegetarian menu containing a good range of different vegetarian dishes in addition to the usual vegetable side dishes.

I first visited a few months after it opened and found the food to be exemplary in every way. Since then I have visited on numerous occasions and always found that standard maintained. I would rate it as the best of the numerous Indian restaurants in town. The fact that booking is essential for Friday and Saturday nights when one can walk in most of the others (possibly not the Tuffail now) without a reservation speaks for itself.

Over the years I have tried a range of starters and they have all been good. The assorted Kebab starter gives a good selection, including some Boal (a Bangla Deshi fish) while Chote Pote (chick peas and egg, spiced in a hot and sour sauce) is different and delicious. The more common Onion Bhajias are crisp, light and spicy. I was always impressed by the good standard of the accompanying salad with starters - shredded lettuce, carrot, onions, cucumber and tomato with fresh coriander and a green chilli on top and always fresh and crisp - which was much better than the limp lettuce and cucumber slice given at many high street curry houses. .

Similarly the range of main dishes I have eaten have all been good. Chicken Pathia always one of the better example of this dish, being in a thick, rich dark brown sauce with an excellent balance between the sweet and the sour tastes while the Jalfrezi was as expected, excellently cooked with plenty of chillis, and the Dhansaks delicious. The less common Chicken Sali (an East Bengal dish spiced with garlic, onion and ginger with a crisp strip potato topping) was full of flavour and first class as was the Achar Gosht, again in a rich dark sauce and tantalizingly spiced with lime pickle and with a distinctive sharp flavour. Meat Madras in a similarly rich and satisfyingly hot sauce while the Ginger Murgh remains a favourite with a good flavour of ginger and coriander. Chicken Karahi also in a tasty sauce with a distinct ginger flavour and a hit with my wife. Tandoori Chicken - one of my wife's favourites - is also invariably well marinated and full of flavour.

Vegetable dishes also good - the Mixed Vegetable contains a good selection of vegetables, the Cauliflower Bhajee is always lightly cooked to give a wonderfully fresh flavour and the Vegetable Dhansak is superb. All are liberally sprinkled with fresh coriander which adds a nice additional flavour. The accompanying breads and rice dishes always well up to standard.

Overall I have always been impressed with the quality and flavours of the food which is served in attractive silver pots which contain ample portions and at prices on a par with other restaurants in the area.

Service friendly and efficient (always there when needed but not overbearing). 

As an interesting pointer to the quality, I was sitting at a table next to three salesmen a couple of years ago who, judging by their conversation, were all strangers to the area and staying in a nearby hotel. About halfway through the main course one commented that he considered the meal to be excellent. The others agreed, and one said it was the best Indian meal he had eaten for a long time. An excellent recommendation, and I was pleased to have my own views supported. It still remains the one to beat in Gravesend 

Malcolm Wilkins - October 2006