Not only is this Shrewsbury’s oldest Indian restaurant, but it is the oldest in Shropshire being established ‘for forty six years’ according to the manager, but ‘in 1960’ from another source. Believe what you will, but it is still the oldest. Centrally situated in the picturesque older part of town it looks fairly small at first sight as the downstairs dining area seats about 40. However, they now have an upstairs dining area which doubles the seating. The decor is pleasantly plain with pale walls adorned by Indian pictures, wooden floors and generally comfortable surroundings. The menu lists all the usuals plus a few less commonly seen dishes.

My wife started with her usual and benchmark Onion Bhajias, which were five small and fairly average bhajias accompanied by a startlingly fluorescent orange coloured raita which had little flavour other than of thin tomato. I chose the Banjal Special as it was a new one on me. It turned out to be a small aubergine (which makes me think that perhaps it should have been ‘Brinjal Special’) stuffed with paneer and deep fried. It was certainly different and not unpleasant, but with no discernible spicing and as paneer is virtually tasteless and had become creamy in the preparation, I thought it would have been better served with custard as a sweet.

For our main dishes we chose Chicken Paza (cooked with coriander, with onion and lemon juice and described as ‘slightly hotter than medium’), Chicken Tikka Bazah (with green peppers and onions) and a Mixed Vegetable Bhaji. Both chicken dishes were very pleasant dishes with a nice flavour. The Bazah was mild but tasty with lots of capsicum, while the Paza was in a very ‘tomatoey’ sauce and slightly hotter although I wouldn’t have described it as ‘hotter than medium’. Nevertheless, it did have a certain bite to it the more you got into it. The Vegetable Bhaji was the fairly average plate of diced vegetables but it had a curiously strong taste of cloves which made it unusual, and for me, not particularly appetising. We accompanied this with an excellent Vegetable Pullau - plenty of vegetables and nicely cooked rice, and a fairly standard Peshwari Nan.

Good portions and prices about average. The service was good and friendly, and my only complaint is the pre-meal gin and tonic which (as is common with many Indian restaurants) came ready mixed. The only trouble was it was gin and soda! When I pointed this out it was changed but despite my specifically asking for a gin and separate bottle of tonic, it was re-served ready mixed again (This practice is not unusual in Indian restaurants and we all know why they do it, of course, but I wish they would invest in normal mixer size bottles and serve it separately so that we can see what we are getting and can mix it to our own taste!)

All in all, however, a pleasant evening and a pleasant meal but, as my wife succinctly put it (and she’s good at these observations) "I came away feeling as though I had had a nice meal, but not as though I had had a good curry". I know what she means.

Malcolm Wilkins - March 2003