Sheesh Mahal

Sheesh Mahal

The reputation of the Sheesh had me believe that the food would be very good but the service efficient and rather uncaring. The second was confirmed when we were greeted not with a warm “Good evening” but a stern “Have you booked?” this may have been efficient but was easy to interpret as “You are going to be lucky if you eat in here”. Having said this the manager who took our order was as friendly and helpful as was possible to be.

The papadums came quickly, were crisp, and accompanied with tasty pickles.  The menu was standard, including all the dishes one would expect. If the papadums came quickly, the food was amazingly fast to arrive. Being fast did not detract from the quality. Everyone’s dishes were fresh and well prepared, the portions did not disappoint. Silence descended as we ate a very nice meal and we all agreed that the Sheesh is one of the best Indians in Twickenham. The only minor comments were that the Madras was surprisingly mild and the Jalfrezi particularly lively.

The décor is unusual for an Indian restaurant outside of London: with an unbroken polished wood theme throughout makes it tasteful but perhaps cold. A sort of Scandinavian, Cubic creation.  Without doubt, this was meal that we all enjoyed.  If you are prepared to order leisurely and eat slowly, you will gain the most from the experience.

We scored the Sheesh Mahal out of 10 as follows:

Price:               7

Service:           7

Quality:           8

Ambiance:       7

Total:               29

8^th Nov 2012

http://www.sheesh-mahal.co.uk

Naz Balti

Naz Balti Review

It was with heavy hearts that we approached the Naz restaurant to undertake our last review in Church Street. Given the poor showing of the other two restaurants in our earlier reviews, we were not hopeful that this would be a good dining experience.

However, our pessimism started to lift with the arrival of the poppadoms, appropriately crisp and with a good selection of pickles, and the price of the beer – Kingfisher at £3.75 pint and Cobra in large bottles at £4.35 per bottle, helped to relieve our gloom. It was a Wednesday night and with a special offer on thali – two of us had the non-vegetarian and a third the vegetarian thali. The other two in our party plumped for their normal selections: chicken Jalfrezi and chicken dansak, together with side vegetables – sag aloo and bindi. The thalis, both vegetarian and meat versions were excellent and good value for money at £8.95.There were six separate pots of vegetable or meat dishes, together with naan and rice. They appeared to be freshly prepared and were of good quality and variety. The dansak and jalfrezi dishes were good but both under-strength in terms of spiciness. The vegetable dishes were ample and better than average.

Overall, we found that despite our misgivings the Naz warranted its positioning at fourth in our reckoning of the ten Twickenham (one overseas!) curry houses we have reviewed to date. It’s a shame that its external appearance and internal décor is little different from that of its neighbour the Dehli Durbar. Notwithstanding this, it is by far the best curry house in the highly popular Church Street dining destination.

We scored the Naz Balti as follows:

Price:                          7.5

Service:                      6.9

Quality:                       7.5

Ambiance:                  6.5

Total:                          28.4

10th October 2012

http://www.nazbalti.com/

Taste of Mogul

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

http://www.tasteofmogul.com/

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/

Amin's

Amin’s review

Our selfless quest continues and we decided to try out the Amin’s restaurant in Heath Road. It is unusual as its sign outside proudly advertises it as a Bangladeshi restaurant (the majority in Twickenham are but generally hide under the Indian Restaurant banner).

Amin’s is not licensed , it is a ‘Bring Your Own’, so a quick visit to the Tesco Express very close by, secured the necessary curry  meal accompaniment  of chilled lager.  We arrived at the restaurant and we were received with a friendly greeting and were quickly seated. We all had carrier bags full of beer, so the waiter brought us beer glasses and offered to put the unopened cans and bottles in the fridge, which he duly did. 

The menu had a good selection of standard dishes and a few house specials. Whilst we were deciding what to have, we started with our usual pappadoms and pickles. These were freshly cooked and the pickles were tasty. 

Two of our group chose the Chicken Dansak, which came with Pilau rice, one chose the Chicken Jalfrezi and I had one of the house specials, Sali Chicken Tikka, which also came with Pilau rice. We ordered side dishes of Sag Aloo, Bhindi Bhaji, Tarka Dall and Vegetable Curry. The food arrived and it was immediately apparent that we needed a bigger table! All the main courses and side dishes were a generous size, including a large individual dish of rice, kept hot by a plate warming thingy.  All the main sauces were tasty and the Sali sauce was caramelised giving it an unusual but tasty sweet and sour flavour, quoting from the menu; ‘Very unique recipe similar to our pathia with a caramelised sauce but garnished with fried julienne potato (technically known as crispy chippy bits)’. The Chicken Dansak dish was not over spicy hot and was highly rated and nothing was left on the plate! The Jalfrezi was good but a comment was made about the high salt content.

The decor was clean and minimalist and the atmosphere was very relaxed and the service was excellent. The friendly waiter was attentive and replenished our empty beer glasses in an efficient and cheery manner. An added bonus was that Amin’s do not charge corkage, which made a big difference to the overall cost of the meal , which we found was great value (£17 per person). 

All in all, Amin’s is one of the better Curry establishments in Twickenham.

We scored Amin’s as follows:

Service:                               8.25

Quality:                                7.9

Price:                                    8

Ambience:                            6.4

30^th May 2012

http://www.aminstwickenham.co.uk/

Ryde Tandoori

 

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    

23^rd April 2012

http://www.rydetandoori.co.uk/

Atithi

Atithi review

So, did it live up to the hype? You may have noticed that the Atithi has advertised heavily recently, mentioning the acclaim on Tripadvisor. Well, yes and it has now shot to number one on our leaders board.

The newly opened Atithi is located in the premises of the former Sagar vegetarian Indian restaurant in York Street. The decor is largely unchanged and the hard surfaces, wood on the walls and wooden floors magnifies sound with the consequence that the party of 15 on a nearby table dominated the restaurant. The menu is short and uncomplicated with most dishes recognizable, although there was a chilli cheesy naan which is a new one on me. Complimentary pappadoms were served and large bottled Cobra at £4.95 was perhaps on the pricey side. The food was of good quality with perhaps smallish portions in the vegetable side dishes; for those wanting to top up their 5 a day, we suggest that they choose main course versions of their veggie choice. Prawn molee and various chicken and lamb dishes including Gilafi Handi, which resembles a meat pie and was tasty too, were very good but some of us remarked on the liberal use of salt.

The owner said that Atithi means guest in his native tongue and the service was suitably attentive without being fussy. A 20% discount currently being offered by the restaurant is certainly good value for money and Atithi has deservedly moved to the top of our leaders board by a narrow margin.

We scored the Atithi out of 10 as follows:

Service:  8.5

Quality:  8.3 

Price:  8.5

Ambience:  7.4

29th March 2012 

http://www.atithi-indiancuisine.com/