I walked into the place having expectations of a decent meal in a nice setting and environment. The restaurant is nicely decorated with undertones of the Bangladeshi flag on the walls and side lights. The seating is cosy and family friendly. The staff are polite and helpful and the prices are ok.
I was nicely surprised with the menu as they catered for just about every taste and this is the first restaurant that I've been to that actually serves Haleem (a beautiful concoction of pulses, meat/chicken and porridge). Being the first time that we'd eaten there we sought opinion from the waiter and although we knew what we wanted the basic ingredients to being (chicken, meat, fish, veg etc...) due to there being such a large variety we clearly needed help in deciding.
For starters we had prawn puri and a mixed grill, the servings were proportionate and presentation was delightful. This is the first asian restaurant that I've been to that actually serve olives in their salad and that was very welcome. The prawns had a slightly over powering taste of garam masala but this may have been to them being rushed off their feet and thus not allowing sufficient cooking time. Nevertheless this being overcome, the succulentness and tenderness of the prawns was well worth the extra dash of garam masala being overlooked. The chicken in the mixed grill was again very tender and uniquely flavoursome, although the kebab again suffered from a hasty dash of the garam masala or an ingredient of the like!
Now to the main course: we ordered 3 dishes being: Lamb Jalfrezi, Chicken Sashlick bhuna and Korai King Prawn. The lamb was extremely tender and well seasoned. the flavours were unusual to that of a typical or even western catered jalfrezi, all the flavours in the chicken dish worked well together and the sauce was of the right consistency. The prawns far exceeded my expectations of a prawn dish in a restaurant but then again i suppose i wouldn't have expected anything less from a nation of seafood lovers. The nan bread was soft and sweetly aromatic as well as in taste.
For drinks we would have liked to taste their lassi but they didn't have any and that was a slight disappointment as such an authentic meal deserves an equal companion. We settled for fizz instead!
Being so impressed we decided to have dessert there as well however, the dessert menu was fairly limited and common of all the other restaurants on the LP Road. Additionally, a fair number of the desserts were unavailable. We decided to go a couple of doors away.
Pros: good authentic food, not oily, decent sized portions, good ambience, good service, pleasant waiters, reasonably priced.
Cons: lack of preferred drink, lack of variety of dessert, slightly much garam masala (but this may have been to them being busy and it is a common fault in restaurant food), long wait for starters but once this is served there isn't much of a wait between the starter and the main course, allow alcohol on the premises (which i was unaware of at the time).
My personal opinion is that Grameen would get many many more food lovers opting for them and this being a first choice on LP Road if it wasn't for them allowing alcohol on the premises. As i know many foodies who would love to sample Grameen, this is the only and foremost reservation.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed eating at this restaurant and hence felt obliged to post a well deserved review. read more