LAGAAN, 60 THE STREET

NOTE: THIS RESTAURANT WAS GUTTED BY FIRE IN JANUARY 2009. IT STILL HAD NOT RE-OPENED WHEN I VISITED IN JULY 2010. THIS WAS A GREAT DISAPPOINTMENT AS IT WAS VERY GOOD. I ONLY HOPE IT DOES REBUILD ITSELF AND RE-OPEN (WITH THE SAME CHEF), AS IT WAS ONE OF THE BETTER ONES IN EAST KENT. UNTIL IT DOERS RE-OPEN I RETAIN MY ORIGINAL REPORT, SO THAT READERS CAN SEE WHAT THEY'RE MISSING! 

The restaurant was established in 2004, and is under the same general ownership as The Minster Tandoori in Minster (Thanet),  The Tasty Spice in Ramsgate and The Simla Brasserie in Margate. I have been to The Minster Tandoori and found it very good, so I was hoping for a similar experience. I am pleased to say that I wasn’t disappointed.

The restaurant doesn’t look that imposing from the outside, and being situated in the narrow high street makes for difficult parking (although there is a small free car park in the village centre a few hundred yards away). The inside, too, is not immediately becoming, being two smallish dining rooms, linked by third, narrow dining area. Nevertheless, the whole lot (which could have been two small cottages or shops knocked into one) seats a surprising 84.

Despite its fairly ordinary appearance, the food lifted it above the ordinary. It was all delicious. The menu is fairly standard, but does include a few less common offerings such as Salmon Hara Dhania (pan seared salmon cooked with red onions, crushed black peppercorns, poppy seeds and coriander), Haash Shugonda (breast of duck with onion, ginger and garlic), Marathi Nalli Gosht (lamb shanks infused with blended roast spices including dried red chilli and sesame seeds), and the Goan dish of Murgh Xacuti.

I found the food to be uniformly good. I had the Xacuti, and made the point of requesting it to be of Goan strength (I sometimes find that restaurants go slightly overboard on the coconut paste, but light on the red chilli). Whether it was my request or whether it is the standard serving, but it was excellent, the chicken being in a thick, rich, very flavoursome sauce with the right balance of hotness and underlying coconut flavour, and cooked with aubergine. Superb! Tandoori Chicken was also excellent, as it was well marinated and darkly flavoursome, with the most delicious onions on top. How they were cooked I don’t know – they were not red onions, but sweetly caramelised and absolutely mouth-watering. Everything else was equally tasty – vegetable bhaji, tarka dall and so on – and even the rice had a pleasant aromatic flavour.

Prices about average (at first sight the house specials look a bit more expensive, but then you see that they do come with rice), and the service good.

A very good meal all round. It’s just a pity its so far away from where I live, otherwise you wouldn’t keep me away.

Malcolm Wilkins – July 2007