Taste of Raj review
In
the olden days in Twickenham, there was a large tract of open land stretching
from the Thames to Hounslow Heath. Twickenham
Green is the only remaining part of it. At
number 86 is to be found the Taste of Raj.
We ventured there on a Thursday evening, to take advantage of their
weekly Banquet Night. Priced at £9.95, this
generously includes a starter, main course, side dish, rice and nan, with the
choice being allowed from the whole menu.
(A £3 supplement applies for king prawn dishes.)
As
is quite common in Twickenham, The Taste of Raj is right next door to another
Indian restaurant. However, they
specifically denied that there was a shared kitchen.
The
restaurant was quite well patronised – in this age of austerity, our group was
not alone in seeking a bargain. The
decor on the walls was plain; and traditional Indian music, played at a
reasonable volume, added to the atmosphere.
One disconcerting feature however was the lighting, which varied slowly
from bright to dull and back again, rather like being in a cinema or theatre as
the performance is about to start.
We
were disappointed to find that draft lager was not available, despite being
shown on the wine list. The large
bottles (660 mls) of Kingfisher and Cobra are priced at £4.95 each. When some of our group switched lagers, the
attentive waiter brought fresh glasses to match the type of lager being drunk.
We
ordered a variety of starters and main courses, including chicken dhansak,
jalfrezi and korai; and also lamb rampuri, a dish not seen on every menu, and
described as ‘barbecued pieces of lamb cooked in a blend of exotic spices with
onions and green peppers’. We rated
these dishes as adequate, but not particularly spicy – only the dhansak tasted
mildly hot. With the large number of
dishes for the main course, including the rice and bread, there was not enough
room on our table, and we had to use the neighbouring tables (luckily
unoccupied) for the overflow.
Hot
towels and orange segments were provided at the end of the meal, and
complimentary brandies offered. We
declined these, but accepted the chocolate mints which came with the bill.
For the price, a large meal of average
quality, with good service; but we missed the lager on draft.
We
scored the Taste of Raj out of 10 as follows:
Service: 6
Quality: 5.5
Price: 6.25
Ambiance: 5.75
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