19th February 2008
My Valentines Dinner
It’s not often that you arrive at the restaurant you think you’re supposed to be at, only to have a small man run at you from out of the darkness asking “Do you want to go in?”. My travelling instincts immediately kick in and I’m about to politely yet sternly tell him “No thank you” and walk briskly off. Luckily my brain jumped in before my mouth.
I remembered a sign on the front door saying something like ‘This door is not usable. Please use the side door.’ As the realisation flowed across my face, the very helpful small man (who I could clearly now see was a waiter and dressed appropriately) explained the person with the only key was late and would we mind following him through the side door.
We followed and had a brief tour of the kitchen where the three chiefs (who all greeted us with a cheerful hello) were preparing for the night ahead. The aromas they were creating convinced me that we had chosen a good place to celebrate our first UK Valentines.
The décor was nothing to write home about nor was it shabby. It was more the little touches like the miniature bouquet of flowers on each table and the heart shaped balloons scattered throughout that made it special.
We were the first people there, and our very attentive waiter let us choose where we wanted to sit. He then promptly took our coats (ladies first – of course) and gave us enough time to peruse the menu. We decided on two beers, Cobra and Kingfisher, and a starter of two papadums which came with four delicious dipping sauces. My favourite was the spicy concoction with ground cinnamon.
The mains took us a little while to choose only because everything we looked at seemed to be better than the dish before, including dishes we’d already looked at! I’m a sucker for goat which sadly was not on their menu, but made my decision a little easier. Eventually deciding I was craving a red meat, I decided on the Lahore Palak Gosht (a lamb dish using only A Grade Halal meat), my partner chose the Ginger Chicken Kerala Style (again using high grade meat) and due to the lack of greenery, she also chose the Saag Paneer (an old favourite of ours from New Zealand). To compliment this we chose a plain (basmati) and lemon rice.
We’d just ordered two more beers when the hot plates arrived, much to our please followed closely by our fantastic looking food. All three dishes were superb. The lamb could have stood out on its own. It was so full of flavour and the accompanying spices did well to bring this out further without disguising it. We appreciated the flavours of the ginger chicken dish, especially the sizable slithers of ginger waiting at the bottom of the bowl which I was allowed free run of. The paneer dish surprised us in its presentation as we are used to seeing it in a spinach puree style. It looked more like wilted, reduced, fresh spinach with accompanying spices but was not disappointing.
As the dishes were taken away (completely empty I might add), we pondered the need for three of them. Perhaps if we’d been thinking sensibly we would have got two, but it was a special occasion and we didn’t want to leave thinking “I bet that so-in-so dish would have been good”. We sat in Valentines bliss seriously considering our combined favourite to top off the evening, a refreshing lassi. Talk about eyes bigger than stomach syndrome! Sadly, we went with our stomachs (both of whom were rumbling with content) only to be asked if we would like to look at the desert/hot drinks menu. Phewf!
After deciding that a lassi would push us over the edge, I managed to convince myself that a chai tea would see me right, only to be disappointed when the waiter came back with that knowing apology of a smile and the sad news that there was to be no chai tea for me tonight. Probably for the best. I was rather full.
The bill came to £36 and took a little working out. The only thing we may have done differently is instead of paying the £11 pounds for four beers opted for a bottle of wine instead.
Happy eating.
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