JAMUNA, 9-10 HIGH STREET

Entry to this restaurant is up some unprepossessing stairs to the first floor dining area. However, once there it is smart, with chandeliers and decorated in soft pinks and greens. It seats about 60 plus, with tables for 2, 4 and 6 people, and the dining room commands a good view over the nearby gardens and River Avon.

We arrived at 8.30, to find it remarkably empty (only one other table was taken). We were shown to a table for two, but asked if we could have a table for four to give a little more room. This request was refused, as according to the manager “it will be crowded tonight”. So rather disgruntled at having to sit at a small table in a virtually empty restaurant, we studied the menu. The menu offers the usual dishes, with perhaps one or two less common items (for example Xacutti), but basically it is a standard list.

The Onion Bhaji starters were very god indeed. Two large, crispy bhajias, which were loosely assembled making them crisp throughout and pleasantly light and crumbly. The Chicken Tikka starter was less remarkable, having a few pieces of only very lightly ‘tandooried’ lumps of chicken, which because of the paucity of the marinade meant they were not particularly flavoursome.

My main dish of Lamb Pathia was quite good, although again nothing outstanding. Cooked in a rich, dark sauce it was certainly hot and pleasantly spiced, but the lamb was rather chewy, and with a very ‘lamby’ (perhaps ‘muttony’ might be a better adjective) flavour. The Chicken Tikka Bhuna was quite tasty, but both myself and my wife – who does not like hot curries – considered it mild rather than ‘medium’ as described on the menu. Once more though, it was no more than OK, which at over £8 for seven small pieces of chicken made not particularly good value.

Mixed Vegetable Bhaji was a good mix of vegetables, nicely spiced and cooked, while the Peshwari Nan (plenty of coconut paste, but nothing else) and rice were average.

The service was quick and efficient, and the prices (perhaps predictable in Bath) were above average, plus they add 10% for service (although to their credit they do not leave an empty space for a further tip). However, bearing in mind that the portions were just about adequate and the meal, while OK, was nothing more than a reasonable standard high street formula curry, meant that it did not live up to the image the interior presents, nor represents good value for money. It’s not one I would return to, and nowhere near as good as the Eastern Eye that I used last time I was in Bath.

Oh, and the table incident. Well, they did fill up as the evening progressed, although I noted that there were still several tables for four still empty when we left. We could have had one after all!

Malcolm Wilkins – February 2005