The Madras Express is a curious name for a business owned by a Ugandan Indian of Gujarati descent…read more (Madras is in the South East of India and Gujarat is in the North West.) That aside, everything else makes sense. With an extensive menu, tandori oven, take-aways and deliveries, everyone is more than happy with what they do. This is an exceedingly popular restaurant. Ali, the owner, is a chatty kind of fellow. He tells me that the Tandori Chicken is the most commonly ordered dish and that he's not related to the Ugandan family of Gujarati origin that owns the Sweet Mart on St Mark's Road - but they are friends. Ali smiled when he revealed that he hadn't even visited India until 2000, but that he went at an inauspicious time, explaining that he was there when the massive earthquake hit at the beginning of 2001. I listened stunned as he continued to tell me that he had found a 6 year old Hindu girl whose family had all perished, and that he decided to bring her back to the UK. There ensued a long tussle with Social Services until eventually they granted her access. She's now fifteen and studying for her GCSE's. What is most astonishing about this tale is that Ali himself is Muslim. The food tastes even better when you know that!

For those of you who enjoy a good helping of hearty Indian cuisine from time to time, but can…read morerarely afford the luxury of eating out, luck may be coming your way. The Madras Express, a relatively new curry house, is currently doing an eat in buy one get one free deal from Monday to Wednesday on all main meals, naan breads and rice. I had to double-take when I saw the offer and hastily proceeded to arrange a group outing to the restaurant. Our group arrived on a Monday evening and alarm bells rang as we walked into a practically empty restaurant. But the ringing soon began to subside as we sat down to pints of Kingfisher, a deliciously refreshing Indian Lager, and tucked into our obligatory poppadom starters. The toppings were copious and varied and our appetites were well and truly whetted. A few more customers began to show up after a while, and we were impressed with the friendliness and attentiveness of the waiters. The main courses arrived in good time and were beautifully presented. Given the nature of the offer, we were not expecting exquisite food. Nevertheless, we were pleasantly surprised by the sheer quality of the dishes. I had a Chicken Karai which was oozing with sweet, subtle flavours and packed with juicy vegetables. The meat was succulent and tasty and my garlic naan was cooked to perfection. We all agreed we would have been happy to pay the full price for such culinary perfection. But a deal's a deal!

Have been here before as well. Came today for a dinner with friends. We were quite late, and they…read morehad already started the closing process. But, we were seated, given complimentary papadums as our food hot ready. They have a new tandoor chef, who just joined the team, and he is pretty good. The nuns are yummy and do are the curry. The staff was eager to please. Definitely worth a visit! The tandoori chef himself came out DNS asked Bout the nun specifications as I am a bit demanding, especially she bit homes to Indian cuisine. Was also given a curry to taste and asked if needed something more in it!

So i came here on a night that the Bristol health inspectors came and shutdown the restaurant. But…read morebefore they stopped the kitchen, i was able to get my curries and even a refill on naan. Ordered chef special curry and it was done really well. My chai took probably 30 min too long but the health inspectors shutting down the kitchen probably didn't help with expediency. I would go back when they open again... this post is 5 days after my visit so no harmful consequences from the shutdown on my digestive tract as well.

This has to be the best 'Bring your Own' Indian Restaurant in Bristol. (Ok, I'm not sure if there…read moreare any others, but this one is great!). From the outside, Al's Tikka Grill doesn't look too promising, its a greasy spoon cafe and you can just make out a sign that lets you know that it transforms itself every evening! There is nothing fancy about the food, but its well cooked and the portions are generous. You can bring as much drink as you like but they do have soft drinks for sale. Because of this, it works out as a really cheap night out as most restaurants put premiums on drinks even if they keep food prices low. You have to be careful though, as it gets really busy, particularly on weekends, so if you are going with a group, I would advise you to book ahead.

It's good to see Alex has a similar opinion to me…read more It can be difficult to find a very good Indian Takeaway. There are lots of average and fairly good places in Bristol, as you probably would have seen in my reviews. The Raj Bari offers that bit extra in quality, you know when you can taste the difference just in the sauces you have with your popadoms, you can tell what sort of quality the rest of the food will be. It is worth the treck accross town, and on a summer eve get a takeaway and head up to the Clifton Suspension Bridge and enjoy a indian picknick on the grass (don't tell the authorities) looking down the Avon gorge.

Very nice mainstream indian food. Shame I have to drive across town to get there but it's worth the…read moredrive.

After a rather heavy weekend, a friend and I decided we'd pop into The Clove for a takeaway curry…read more Although we'd passed the restaurant several times before, we both admitted we were discouraged by its mildly showy yet totally unexotic aesthetic. In addition to this, The Clove is pretty expensive. However, given that it was Sunday, and the other local Indian restaurants were closed, we thought we may as well give it a go. We both ordered a Vegetable Rogan (£5.75), Pilau Rice and Peshwari Nans, and hoped for the best. Fortunately the food hit the spot, although we were utterly famished and would probably have taken equal pleasure in a MacDonalds. The problem was the service. Not only was it too much of an inconvenience for us to pay separately, but when we asked for a five pound note to be changed, the waiter was most vexed, almost refusing to part with his precious coins. Only after our prolonged looks of disappointment did he reach into his till, clearly displeased. Whatever happened to customers' rights, eh? Not impressed.

I have two rules of thumb when deciding how good an Indian restaurant is. 1, how hot is the chicken…read moreMadras. If it's too hot, then it is clearly trying to cater for the lager swilling curry heroes, who like to prove how masculine they are by displaying how numbed their taste buds have become to anything other than more lager. And 2. Do they serve butter chicken and if so, do they make it using coconut milk. If the answer to this 2nd question is yes, then I can tell instantly that this is a place that likes to cut corners, as butter chicken isn't supposed to have coconut milk in it (yet it invariably does in half arsed establishments). The Clove restaurant and takeaway off North Street certainly fails in both. The butter chicken I had there recently tasted like a Korma (and was therefore made primarily from coconut milk). Disgusting. And the Madras I had there the time before was just a plate of chicken in a hot but tasteless sauce. Not good.

The rather sorry-looking Brunel Raj in Clifton Village is not a bad Indian restaurant, but I've…read moretried better. I've had some food here that's been very nice, such as the onion bhaji and fish tikka Starters, and other dishes that have been mediocre, such as the Achari Chicken. The staff are fairly friendly and attentive, and the portions (like in most Indians) are generous enough, but some items on the menu are quite expensive - such as the Brunel Special King Prawns, which the restaurants claims to be well-known for (and I think cost £17.50). The Brunel Raj is not the prettiest restaurant in town, and certainly not the most elegant in Clifton Village, with a fairly drab interior of green walls, historical paintings of Bristol, and a mirrored wall decorated with a transfer of Clifton Suspension Bridge. Despite this, it's often completely booked up at weekends, and busy even on weekdays, so seems to have established a loyal following - but with so many Indian restaurants out there I think I'd rather try somewhere different next time.

The Brunel Raj is awesome! The exterior and decor really don't do the place justice. The decor is…read morevery old-fashioned and leaves much to be desired. One side of the wall is taken over by a picture of the suspension bridge. However, the food really is good, and they have a takeaway service which gives the Raj an A*. The service is efficient and the staff are really accommodating - they are happy to cater for large groups.

We are so love this restaurant. We come from China and my friends are first time to eat Indian…read morefood. There are friendly staff and delicious beautiful food. Nan is our favorite.

Joyraj in Clifton Village is a cosy little Indian restaurant, and exactly what you might expect…read morefrom a curry house. The waiters are really friendly and helpful, the food is delicious, if a little heavy and the decor is almost stylish. The basement dining area is lovely to relax in on a cold night, and you'll loose track of the time, enjoying poppadoms curries and naans. My personal favourite is the chef's special Hunza, which is a curry infused with orange zest, delicious!

A pretty quirky little Indian, that many will pass, mainly because it looks like the whole…read moreadvertising has been a bit of a bodged job, but that's what I love about it, it is wierdly understated and does not seem to be desperatley calling out to you to go in. The food is great, £15 for a 2 person meal, can't really say fairer than that, eat in or takeaway. I have always found the time to have a sit down inside and enjoy my food, I sometimes feel you loose some of the immediate flavour in the transporting of the food. It's also linked to the 'Just-Eat' network so you can place your order through them for your food.

Being an Indian and most importantly a non vegetarian my taste buds can identify quality of food…read moreand taste. I visited this restaurant based on reviews on yelp as I was in Bristol for a day. I give four stars not because of food but 1 star goes away for ambience. However food is excellent, one could easily sense the aroma of spices used this means the food is appropriately cooked, additionally bread was amazing (plain paratha) for this I give 5 stars. Moreover price is also reasonable. Overall great experience

Chai Shai means 'tea and more' so you can tell just by the name that it isn't going to be your…read morenormal Jalfrezi and poppadom Indian restaurant experience. And it isn't. Far from it in fact. It's refreshingly brilliant! From the outside, Chai Shai is beautiful; dark and deep blue painted walls with a wooden sign really set it apart from its neighbors. They also have the nicest logo and typography I've seen in a long time. I really love their branding. The restaurant looks tiny from the curb, and it is, but it looks really welcoming. They have 3 wooden plant pots just under the window with some herbs and spices in them. Inside has two tables and a well stocked open glass fridge with all of their pakoras and samosas. The smell is so good as you enter I couldn't wait to tuck in! I was there for lunch and had the lunch box meal. It came with a really nice spiced rice, a chick pea curry, samosa and a pakora. The rice was perfect. It had just enough flavour without over powering the chick peak curry - which was also beautiful! I'd normally always go for a meat dish, but it wasn't an option. But I wasn't fussed while I was tucking in. It was spicy enough to take a break every now and again, but so tasty I couldn't stop eating. The samosa and pakoras were both fantastic and you can tell these guys have A LOT of practice in making them. I spoke to the owners for a while and their passion for Bristol and for giving something back to the community was inspiring. They were a lovely couple to chat to. They've only be open for 12 weeks and with their love for cooking amazing food and their love for Bristol, they're sure to do well. Definitely one of my favourite eating experiences in Bristol for a while. I can't wait to go back!

Good food and reasonable prices in this cute wee restaurant. Server is a pleasant young man and the…read moreowner is ever present to make sure things are as they should be. Check it out if you are nearby.