Regal Haandi

Regal Haandi

We chose the warmest evening of the year so far to visit the smallest Indian restaurant in Twickenham. Perhaps a restaurant with air conditioning would have been smart but the Haandi was fine, they kept the door open. The Haandi is small, just six tables for four and one for two; however as we were the only patrons that evening the four of us seemed to fill the place enough for some atmosphere. The rather plain walls adorned with Food Safety Certificates seemed somehow appropriate. One of our number even gave extra ambiance points for no music!

The papadums came and were fresh and crisp with plentiful accompaniments, normally a good sign. There were the usual main courses on the menu, with two rather less common dishes, Harialy and Sagwala.

The draft beer at below £4 came quickly but one turned out to be cloudy. This was swapped but the replacement was added to the bill, there was some fluster when this was pointed out.

The main courses came and were disappointing as it seemed the chicken that was the main ingredient in all our meals was almost an afterthought. The sauces were very good, as were the vegetables, but the chicken had not been cooked for long in the sauce. We all came to the same conclusion when comparing notes. The Pilau rice was also good, light and fluffy but lacked any hint of saffron in its whiteness.

An announcement on the takeaway menu claims “Finalist in National Curry Chef of the Year Competition”. Not with our chicken.

We scored the Regal Haandi out of 10 as follows:

Service:           5.5

Quality:           6.5

Price:               7.0

Ambiance:       6.0

Total:               25

25^th July 2012

Twickenham Tandoori

Twickenham Tandoori.

After an afternoon of R&B at the Barmy Arms and a couple pints your reviewer and his partner, together with some visiting Swiss friends took advantage of the 20% discount al fresco dining opportunity at the Twickenham Tandoori. Everything about this was a disaster, a surly reception with attempts to put us in areas of the restaurant which we did not want was followed by some of the worst Indian food I have had in many years and then an attempt to avoid discounting the cost by claiming that it only applied to outside dining (it was raining!).

I had over many years been a regular here but declining quality and service led me elsewhere in the town when I wanted to eat out. The latest visit simply confirms these impressions and I fear that it will be many years before I return here – I am afraid that the TT is not the only establishment in town suffering from these problems. Why can so few offer friendly service without being obsequious and freshly cooked quality food at reasonable prices? It's not rocket science – or, is it?

Our choice of dishes followed the pappadoms which were probably the best bit of the meal, but then it's difficult to get these wrong. Chicken Dansak, Chicken Korai Dopiaza, Lamb Saag and King Prawn Biriani completed the main course line up. We added Saag Aloo and Brinjal Bhaji and of course the vegetable curry that accompanied the Biriani. Except for the Dansak, the rest were almost uniformly poor – watery sauces, dried out meat, unattractive presentation, dried outer skins of onion in the Dopiaza – I could go on but what was saddest was that the attempt to provide fresh vegetables in the curry accompanying the Biriani, cabbage and fresh green beans, totally failed by being the thinnest of sauces, even Oliver Twist wouldn’t have asked for more!

Beer was Kingfisher and service was indifferent at best, still that’s better than hostile.

My scores

Service:                 4

Quality:                 3

Price:                     6

Ambience:             4

Total:                      17

5th August 2012

http://www.twickenhamtandoori.com/