Tsaretta
Review
Time
and tide waits for no man. There is a lot of useful information on the
internet, but also a lot which is out of date. We realised this blog rather
falls into the latter category, so resolved to bring it more up to date.
As
a first step we went along to the (fairly) new Indian restaurant at the east
end of Church Street, Tsaretta Spice. This claims to offer 'a new and vibrant
dining experience'. In other words, it is all a bit up-market, at least by
Twickenham standards.
This
restaurant offers Indian tapas, but only at lunchtime. We went along on a dull
midweek evening in January, and were surprised at how busy it was. It was
fortunate that we had made a prior reservation. The table that had been saved
for us was downstairs, where a large group was already seated. It is great if
you are part of a large boisterous group having fun, but not so great if you
have to share a dining room with such a group. Fortunately the waiting staff
immediately recognised this, and re-seated us in the upstairs room: much
quieter.
The
décor in the dining rooms was bright and modern, the chairs were comfortable,
and the tables just about big enough: always a problem in Indian restaurants
where there never seems to be sufficient room for all the dishes and glasses.
There was background music playing, not traditional Indian, but conventional
middle-of-the-road. This however had to compete with the bellringers at nearby
St Mary's, who were practising their peals.
Our
waitress, a lady from Italy, was friendly and helpful. The menu is more varied
than at most Indian restaurants, and includes dishes of goat, venison and beef.
We found the quality of the dishes to be high, although one of our group
thought they were rather salty. The meat in the beef pepper fry was tender and
full of flavour, and the dish was not too spicy, despite having two chili
peppers printed against it on the menu. The portions of rice were generous, and
the papadoms and nan bread were fresh and tasty. The vegetable side dishes were
also of high quality. There is an extensive wine list, but we stuck to beer:
draft Cobra at £5.95 a pint. Our main critcism was that the dishes were brought
to the table in a number of deliveries, and there was quite a while between the
first and the last. We thought back nostalgically to the late Taste of Mogul,
where they used to bring up everything you had ordered on a trolley, in one
fell swoop.
In
all, an enjoyable dining experience, but as is to be expected from a restaurant
advertising itself as top end, a somewhat expensive one, at least in comparison
with the other Indian restaurants nearby. After discussion, we decided to award
the Tsaretta Spice four stars out of five.
RW
55 Church Street,
Twickenham
TW1 3NR
02088921096
