No. 1 - Brilliant Restaurant

For a long time now I have known about the brilliant, I’ve driven past it and many people have spoken about how excellent the food there.

It’s common knowledge that Prince Charles ate there many many years ago, this has even developed into a possible urban myth – a mate of mate has been eating in there and in comes one/two/three uniformed/plain clothes police who collect a curry. They rush outside to a waiting police/plain car and, with blue lights flashing, they head off.

With a knowing wink the waiter will explain that it was a curry order for Prince Charles.

I don’t know the truth of that but when we arrived and looked at the menu there was a write up about  how Princess Diana dined here, so has Prince Charles, numerous prime ministers (Blair, Major, Heath) and a multitude of Bollywood stars.

The place looks very modern and when we arrived there at 7pm there were already a lot of people in there having dinner.

The menu at first glance looks limited but you soon realise that the variety of dishes is more than enough, they cater well for large parties by allowing you to larger portions which don’t proportionally cost more which would make it ideal for a group night out.

There was a hot sauce and a mint sauce on the table and the waiter soon bought over a tray of 4 dips so poppadum’s seemed to be the order of the day. The selection was excellent with a good mix of flavours.

The choice of dips for starters

For the main course Lamb Masala seems to be, to me, the control dish so I ordered that plus Bombay allo and allo gobi (yes, that’s a lot of potato but what the hell) for all, my friends ordered the tikka lamb chops and a chicken curry, with rice and breads.

Lamb Tikka

The food arrived well presented in a rotating bowl holder, another good sign that if you arrive as a group having a shared meal is easier than passing dishes back and forth.

The main course curries (warning, the handle does not rotate the dishes, it will unscrew the dishes from the base - you have been warned)

And very nice it all was too. The lamb masala was how I like it, the meat was tender and the sauce had a nice piquancy. The tikka lamb chops were cooked very well, no sign of burning which tells you the tandoori chef didn’t just plonk them in there and walk away.

The meal was accompanied with a bottle of cobra which complimented the food very well. The staff were efficient and very pleasant, with no rushing you to order or finish/leave.

The meal for the three of us came to £66 which is not a bad price consider the quality and quantity of the food.

Overall I would have to say it was an excellent first meal at a new restaurant in Southall, onwards and upwards.

The verdict!