Ryde Tandoori review
In a
philosophical moment, we wondered how the Indian restaurants of Twickenham
compare with those in the rest of the country. So we caught the ferry
over to the Isle of Wight, to cast a critical eye over the Ryde Tandoori.
This establishment
is located at number 45 in Union Street, which climbs steeply up from the
seafront. It was apparently the very first Indian restaurant on the
island, being established in 1962: although it moved in 1992 from another
location in Ryde and changed its name from the Taj Mahal, it has stayed in the
ownership of the same family.
The April
evening we visited belonged to winter rather than spring, and a cold wind was
blowing. Unsurprisingly, the good folk of Ryde were not packing the
restaurants, and we were the only customers there. We received a warm
welcome however, and were soon nibbling on the traditional papadoms. A
large bottle of Cobra is priced at £4.50, while draft Carlsberg is a reasonable
£3 a pint. When one of these turned out to be somewhat flat, it was
readily replaced.
The decor
was pleasant, with pictures of the coast of the Bay of Bengal on the
wall. The lighting was in the happy medium between garishly bright and
annoyingly dim, but the music was a somewhat strange mixture of traditional
Indian and western pop.
The food
came in generous portions, served freshly cooked and piping hot, and not
over-salted. There was a clear difference between the types of chicken in
the Chicken Pathia and the Chicken Tikka Pathia, with substantial chunks of
meat, and the degree of spiciness you would expect from a dish described on the
menu as medium hot.
One area of
complaint would be the small size of the tables. It is always a bit of a
juggling act to fit in all the various main and side dishes and the drinks, and
we had to overflow onto the neighbouring table. The service was attentive
without being overbearing, and we were served fresh orange portions after the
meal, and chocolate mints with the bill.
In all, a
good standard of restaurant, which should keep the Twickenham establishments on
their toes to surpass.
We scored
the Ryde Tandoori out of 10 as follows:
Service:
6.625
Quality:
7.125
Price: 7.5
Ambiance:
6.25
23rd April 2012
http://www.rydetandoori.co.uk/
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