From the outside this restaurants looks slightly smarter than the other two in the City centre. However, still being undecided which one to patronise I called in at lunchtime to enquire whether a reservation would be necessary for the evening. I was told that it was booked early in the evening but from 8.45 to 9 pm onwards there would be no problems. At 9pm I arrived to be told very abruptly that they were full up - no apologetic tone of voice, no mention of waiting, just a curt "we’re full up!". I was explaining my earlier conversation when the head waiter arrived and remembered me and our conversation, and asked me to wait a few minutes. Within 5 minutes three tables became vacant and we were duly seated. No problems, but no thanks to the waiter who ‘greeted’ us so abruptly and whose attitude almost lost our custom. (Indeed, given that three tables were obviously ready to be vacated his short sightedness would have lost the custom of anyone who hadn’t booked).

The restaurant comfortably seats 50 in a nicely decorated pink and blue interior with drapes and glittery Indian pictures on the walls. Complimentary popadoms (3) and pickles were served at the beginning although I’m not sure whether this is standard practice (they are listed on the menu at 40p each and pickles 40p per tray) or because of our mixed reception.

The starter of two flat Onion Bhajias had a rather startling appearance, being a bright red colour with an accompanying raita which was a luminous orange colour (I wondered whether their power for cooking came from the relatively local Sizwell B Nuclear Power Station!) However, this and the other, less highly coloured starter of Seekh Kebab (2 large kebabs) tasted fine and both were accompanied by a good, crisp salad garnish.. Chicken Dhansak was plentiful and had a lot of thick, sliced chicken fillet (as against the more common square chunks) in a thick, tasty sauce although not as hot as expected. Murgh Nawabi was in a lightly spiced and slightly bland sauce but was OK although the egg and tomato content equalled the chicken (perhaps we had been spoiled by the enormous amount of chicken in the Dhansak, which certainly outweighed any shortfall in the Nawabi!) Mixed Vegetable Bhaji only lightly spiced but OK formula stuff. Peshwari Nan disappointing being sickly sweet with a sugary creamed coconut filing and without fruit. However, all in all a good formula curry.

Service good (apart from initial reception!). Portions on the right side of average, especially the Dhansak, and prices about average. The clientele was interesting to observe. When we arrived everyone there was aged about 30 and over and a hushed buzz of quiet conversation filled the air. As the evening wore on these customers (presumably the ones who had booked) gradually left and the replacements became younger, noisier and in many cases the worse for drink. When we were about to leave a group of very loud, drunk and foul mouthed youngsters sat down and the whole atmosphere of the place had greatly deteriorated within an hour and a half. If the above is typical of a Saturday night then the message is ‘don’t leave it too late to dine’, which might explain the fact it was fully booked before 9pm but not after!)

Malcolm Wilkins - February 2000