Taste of Mogul
The
Taste of Mogul is a long established Twickenham Indian restaurant, which not
long ago came under new management. As
Bob Dylan so rightly observed, The Times, They Are a-Changin’. Several local curry houses have gone (Indus,
Ragam II and the short-lived Karahi Spices spring to mind), while two others,
Atithi and Ghurka’s Inn, have recently opened and are highly rated by this
blogsite. This must be a challenge to
the nearby Taste of Mogul, just up the road from them in York Street.
The
Taste of Mogul is a reasonably large restaurant, in contrast to a number of
rather cramped others in smaller premises.
However, the tables seem to be not quite large enough, and it is a bit
of a struggle to fit in all the plates and glasses. The walls are painted lively contrasting
colours, and the floor is of wood. There
is music, a mixture of traditional Indian and western, played at a reasonable
volume. There were a number of other
customers when we were there, giving a pleasant ambiance, but the restaurant
was far from full.
We
went on a Thursday night, when a ‘five-course’ banquet meal is offered for
£11.95. This comprises papadom, starter,
main course, side dish and rice or naan.
(I would regard this as a three-course meal, since the main, side and
rice are eaten together; but Taste of Mogul is by no means the only restaurant
to describe each item as a course.) The
choice can be made from the entire menu: the only restriction is that a
supplement is payable for king prawn dishes.
We
opted for this deal. The padadoms were
fresh and crisp, served with a good variety of pickles and chutneys. There was a wide choice of starters on the
menu; but we found that there was also a wide variety in their quality. The prawn puree was deemed to be a success,
but the tandoori lamb chops came out over-tandooried and were more charcoal
than lamb. The vegetable samosas were
pleasant without being exceptional.
We
all opted for chicken dishes for the main course. The meat in the chicken sagwala, chicken
tikka jalfrezi and chicken shaslik was tender, well cooked and tasty; but it
was the vegetable side dishes that were a disappointment. These in our opinion were mainly overcooked,
mushy and bland. Most of the meal was
brought to the table on a trolley all together; but one vegetable dish and a
plate of pilau rice came afterwards. These
vegetables – bhindi bhajee – were scalding hot, presumably having just come out
of the microwave.
The
service was attentive, with a number of waiters; and the manager was obviously
trying to please – we were asked more than once if everything was all right. The pickles and chutneys which accompanied
the papadoms were left on the table for the starters (but not for the main
course – perhaps there wasn’t enough room).
The draft Kingfisher was served cool, and tasted fresh; but at over £4 a
pint rather offset the bargain of the banquet.
On
the whole, a mixed review: the meal had its good points, but we thought the
standard could be significantly improved by taking more care over the
preparation and cooking of the vegetables.
Unfortunately, two of our group suffered upset stomachs, one during the
night and the other in the morning. As a result of this the marks that were
given after the meal were reassessed and
the amended marks we awarded are:
Price: 7
Service: 7.2
Quality: 5.8
Ambiance: 6.8
Total:
26.8
30th August 2012
