This is a popular Indian/Bangladeshi restaurant, in the centre of Royston.
The restaurant itself is on two levels. The downstairs is cosy, and in use all of the time. The upstairs is only used when it is busy - as it was on our visit, which was on a Saturday evening.
We decided to start with poppadoms with pickles, followed by starters and main courses. The pickles were among the best I have had; the lime chutney was particularly good (very flavoursome, but not too hot).
My starter was Chot poti (£4.50), listed on the menu as "an authentic bazaar dish of chickpeas, pan fried with shallots and tamarind massalla, served on a bed of puree". It was very pleasant, not particularly hot, but a nice blend of spices. Perfectly good but nothing to rave about. My partner had the chicken tikka (£4.75), which wasfine, although the thin strips of chicken were a little dry. But again, perfectly decent.
My partner's main was Tabaq Chicken (£9.95), described as a fillet of chicken tossed in spices & herbs including coriander, cumin and garlic, in massala sauce (slightly hot). This was excellent, and came with with plenty of chicken (well cooked) and plenty of sauce.
I had a vegetable biryani (£9.95), which came with a vegetable curry. The biryani rice was an enormous portion, and would've happily fed two people. I was a little disappointed with the accompanying vegetable curry, as this was not spicy at all and I had expected it to be a medium. Maybe something to bear in mind next time, as they will adjust the spicy levels according to taste.
Service was very pleasant throughout, although they made an error with the poppadoms, giving ours to an adjacent table (I think a pushy customer), which meant we were still finishing off our poppadoms when our starters arrived. However, they were very friendly and accommodating, and service was quick (but not pushy) despite them being very busy.
Overall, the meal (with drinks) came to almost exactly £50 for two, which I thought was very good value. I would happily return, but maybe go for something a little spicier on the menu. read more