A small band of insatiable curryholics were undeterred by the fact
that England were playing a friendly against the Netherlands that
evening, and bravely set out through the pouring rain to the other
side of Reading and to what must surely be one of the most illustrious
curry houses in the quadrant; which other can claim the Dalai
Lama as one of its patrons?
Decor: The low ceiling and abundance of folliage gave the room
an airy but cosy feel, augmented by the paintings of mountains and
porcelain Buddhist faces.
Music: Very quiet but authentic. The main sound was rippling
water from the room's lighted fountain centrepiece. Delightful.
- The natural mood was enhanced further by Ed's table corner which
squeaked just like a twittering forest bird when he leant on it.
SERVICE |
Very friendly and attentive |
Time to get served: Around 30 minutes, can't quite
remember.
Favourite menu description: "The taste is self explanatory: try
it you'll never choose any other dish" (on the "Standard Super", which
is bascially Chicken Tikka).
- Impeccable service, although admittedly the restaurant was fairly empty.
- We all agreed that the waitress was very nice (Woolings particularly).
STARTERS | Room for some improvement |
Popadums and chutneys: Crispy popadums, but only three dips: an
impressively potent carrotty thing but underwhelming bitter yoghurt
and vinegary onion.
Lime pickle: None, although the carrotty thing was an
acceptable replacement.
Onion bagees (£2.80): An abundance of dry crunchy edge, but not
enough middle - if you like burnt toast you'd probably appreciate it.
MAIN COURSES AND DESERTS | Mostly good |
Vegetable Kofta: "Nice, but bland balls compared to the Gulab" (Dixon).
Lamb Passanda Dry Fry (£6.95): "Very very tasty!" (Pavelin).
Aloo Thuma: "Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm" (Hodson).
Chana Masala Dry: Chick peas: "Moist, succulent and spicy"
(Hodson).
Chicken Madras (£5.10): "Meat perhaps a bit tough, but `tingling' sauce
really good" (Woolings).
Poleka Machha (£7.50): A bony fish on a rather spartan bed of
vegetables "OK, but would benifit from some sauce" (Hogan).
- Good rice: fluffy and abundant, not too wet or dry.
- Roti very nice "normally too dense but this time more leavened"
(Dixon).
- Cheese Naan good but not very cheesy.
Buffet option |
Egg-fried rice |
Sweet Lassi |
Liqueur coffees |
Hot towels |
Sweets with bill |
Key: |
Yes |
No |
Too drunk to remember |
- The perfect beer for curry, Cobra, was on sale (£3.50 a pint).
- Excellent Sweet Larsi, and the waitress announced proudly that
she'd made it herself!
- Much too much suger in the liqueur coffees. When Robin
homogenised it he was denounced by the waitress as disgusting!!!
- Lots of large peppermint sweets with the bill.
Well, I suppose on technical merit one could find a few things to
criticise, such as the lacklustre popadum dips, but the evening was
such a good laugh that we all agreed that on artistic impression it
deserved 4 Cobras:
Maybe this generosity has something to do with how many of them we
drunk.