Taste of Raj

Taste of Raj review

In the olden days in Twickenham, there was a large tract of open land stretching from the Thames to Hounslow Heath.  Twickenham Green is the only remaining part of it.  At number 86 is to be found the Taste of Raj.  We ventured there on a Thursday evening, to take advantage of their weekly Banquet Night.  Priced at £9.95, this generously includes a starter, main course, side dish, rice and nan, with the choice being allowed from the whole menu.  (A £3 supplement applies for king prawn dishes.)

As is quite common in Twickenham, The Taste of Raj is right next door to another Indian restaurant.  However, they specifically denied that there was a shared kitchen.

The restaurant was quite well patronised – in this age of austerity, our group was not alone in seeking a bargain.  The decor on the walls was plain; and traditional Indian music, played at a reasonable volume, added to the atmosphere.  One disconcerting feature however was the lighting, which varied slowly from bright to dull and back again, rather like being in a cinema or theatre as the performance is about to start.

We were disappointed to find that draft lager was not available, despite being shown on the wine list.  The large bottles (660 mls) of Kingfisher and Cobra are priced at £4.95 each.  When some of our group switched lagers, the attentive waiter brought fresh glasses to match the type of lager being drunk.

We ordered a variety of starters and main courses, including chicken dhansak, jalfrezi and korai; and also lamb rampuri, a dish not seen on every menu, and described as ‘barbecued pieces of lamb cooked in a blend of exotic spices with onions and green peppers’.  We rated these dishes as adequate, but not particularly spicy – only the dhansak tasted mildly hot.  With the large number of dishes for the main course, including the rice and bread, there was not enough room on our table, and we had to use the neighbouring tables (luckily unoccupied) for the overflow.

Hot towels and orange segments were provided at the end of the meal, and complimentary brandies offered.  We declined these, but accepted the chocolate mints which came with the bill.

 For the price, a large meal of average quality, with good service; but we missed the lager on draft.

We scored the Taste of Raj out of 10 as follows:

Service:          6

Quality:          5.5

Price:            6.25

Ambiance:    5.75

23 February 2012


http://www.tasteofrajrestaurant.co.uk/

Moiduls Rawalpindi

Moiduls Rawalpindi review

We don't normally eat in Indian restaurants at lunchtime but there was a birthday celebration involved. Our trip to Moiduls Rawalpindi was during half term and thankfully there was a family and kids in the restaurant, otherwise we would have had the place to ourselves. There is something slightly sad about Indian restaurants during the day, maybe it's to do with the nature of the decor and furnishings.

This restaurant has been around for years but has changed hands over the last 10 years so. I remember it as part of a group involving the Golden Curry House in Hampton Wick and the Bombay in Richmond which used to be opposite where Waitrose now is but burnt down many years ago.

We opted for the businessmen's lunch which at £9.95 per head appeared to be good value on the face of it. It allowed the choice of a starter, a main course and rice, or bread, together with beer or wine. The choice of starters and mains was pretty good -- with some dishes I'd never heard of, for example, Captai which is a hot Sylheti dish and very nice it was too. My colleague had a chicken Dansak which again tasted freshly cooked and was delicious. Starters were Keema kebab and samosas which were reasonable sized portions and clearly freshly cooked. We paid extra for papadams which were nicely presented on large rectangular plates with matching sauce and pickle pots.

Overall, very good value for money but perhaps dropping the beer/wine choice and replacing it with a vegetable side dish might be a more tempting offer, given that many people don't want to drink at lunchtime.

Service was indifferent and the ambience suffered from the daytime timing of our visit. I have noticed in the past that the chairs here are almost immovable when trying to lever yourself in and out of your table place: they could do with replacement.

Service: 5.5

Quality: 8

Price: 8.5

Ambience: 5

17 February 2012 

http://www.moidulsrawalpindi.co.uk/

The Gurkha's Inn

The Gurkha’s Inn review

 It was a perishing night, probably the coldest of the winter when we visited The Gurkha’s Inn. This newly opened restaurant in York Street adjoins yet another Indian restaurant. What is it about to Twickenham curry houses whereby they have to  cluster together - right next door to each other in many cases – are they sharing kitchens?

The decor was fairly traditional (flock wallpaper) but the welcome was warm and the service was attentive. This much is to be expected of a newly opened restaurant where there is strong competition in this niche, The menu is extensive and different from most Indian restaurants; apparently the chef used to work for Montys in Ealing, a renowned chain of west London Nepalese restaurants .  When we ordered, we were offered Gurkha or Nepalese alternatives to traditional Indian dishes and a range of Nepalese dishes not to be found on the conventional Indian menu, for example there was a pork dish which is very unusual. Some of us went for the Nepalese, trying dishes never seen or tasted before – such as Keema Rajma, which was spiced minced lamb with red kidney beans – a sort of Indian version of chilli con carne!

I plumped for my habitual chicken Dansak and cauliflower bhaji and was not disappointed. Interestingly, as a starter the manager served us Nepalese dumplings (very similar to dim sum) which were delicious although we couldn't work out whether they were a promotional offer or standard fare. The papadoms and pickle tray were generally better than the run-of-the-mill and the Gurkha bottled beer at £4.50 a pint made an interesting change from the more common Indian lagers.

Overall, we were very impressed by this new entrant into the Twickenham curry scene. The extensive and different menu should mean that this will become a favourite amongst locals - we will certainly be coming back.

We scored The Gurkha’s Inn out of 10 as follows:

Service: 8.8

Quality: 8.3

Price: 7.8

Ambience: 7

8 February 2012

http://www.thegurkhasinn.com/thegurkhas/