Starters suggest a serious operation: Lamb chops have a dark char and crust from the time spent inside a seriously hot tandoor. Inside the meat is pink with the flavour of the animal matched with a spicing that elevates it way above the norm. They are delicious to point that I consider ordering more. Paneer tikka had cubes of the size of children's building blocks, also given the tandoor treatment. The spicing again was spot on, with each of the blend distinct and traceable against the blandness of the paneer, which is similar to cottage cheese. Baked chunks of pepper and onion provided the textural difference that was needed.
fter all this I was expecting the curries to be some kind of revelation, an expectation that would fall well short. A fish curry leant heavily on coconut - a combination I am familiar with from my travels in Goa. The sauce was muted to allow the fish to be present, which would have been fine had the fillet not been overcooked to a mush. We nearly sent it back. In hindsight, perhaps we should have. A feisty Kadhai with good quality chicken was more successful, the chilli flavour bullish though mitred by clumpy chunks of onion. Rice with flecks of crispy onions and spiced with cumin were a revelation, less so were the parantha which bordered on greasy.
We could have stayed for gulab jamun or kulfi but the work here was already done. With polished service and obvious skill in the kitchen The Horseshoe is aiming well above others in the neighbourhood, with a raised price tag to suit. Just don't, as we did, believe the accolades and expect it to be one of the best in the country read more