THE RAJ, WATERSIDE, WADEBRIDGE

A new restaurant for Wadebridge, opening in January 2008. It's not connected to any other restaurants in the area, but has links to the Rajpoot chain of restaurants in Dorset. It seats about 70 plus in modern contemporary style surroundings (wooden flooring and so on), which looks of good quality, and real flowers on the table.

For starters we had the old favourite of Onion Bhajias. These were 3 round bhajias which were nicely crisped, not too heavy and with a good onion flavour. The other starter was Chicken Kulfi, which was described as minced chicken spiced and deep fried. It was pleasantly different as the substantial pieces did not give the appearance of being deep fried, being dry and not greasy on the outside as I feared they might be. They were very tasty, and interestingly spiced with chilli and fenugreek seeds.

Our main dishes of Chicken Tikka Dhansak and Chicken Tikka Sylhet were both good. The Dhansak was in a rich, flavoursome sauce at the right hotness while the Sylhet was milder but very tasty in a light tomatoey sauce with an underlying flavour of fresh ginger. (I have also had the Jalfrezi here on a visit earlier in the year and that was also good and pleasingly hot). The accompanying Vegetable Bhaji was very good, comprising a wide selection of individually identifiable vegetables (i.e. not mushy), lightly cooked and tastily spiced. The Peshwari Nan was also light, although a little oily on the outside and with only an almond paste filling

Portions plentiful, although it is rather more expensive that the average Indian restaurant. The service could do with some improvement, as although efficient enough in delivering the food it was very abrupt - there were no smiles on arrival, the cutlery was plonked unceremoniously on the table and I didn't see one waiter raise a smile to any of the customers during our time there - but I suppose that's a shortcoming of many a seasonal holiday restaurant (and to be fair I did first visit in early April when, from recollection, the service was a bit more civil, but I suppose the customers were likely to be locals then!). However, despite the somewhat unwelcoming attitude there was no problem when we asked for our remaining food to be packed in containers to be taken away.

Overall we had a very nice meal, and the arrival of this restaurant will present a welcome alternative  to the other Indian restaurant in town, which from my experience will have to improve if it wants to compete. 

Malcolm Wilkins - August 2008