Vegetarian Restaurant

DecorThis small glass-fronted shop is made to look bigger by the clever use of a mirror along one wall. The ceiling has a bright orange swirl which I thought cheerful though some might find it a bit garish.It's not grand. It looks like it will be good value and it is. The plastic topped table already had a metal jug of water with a close-fitting lid and matching tumblers. That was a good start.DrinksI like mango lassi and the mango was generous, so much so I could almost have done with more of the yogurt. My companion had the Fresh Lime. Other options were sweet or salt lassi, mango, strawberry or vanilla milkshake, butter milk, south Indian coffee and masala tea.StartersWe chose cashew nut pakoda. An oval dish contained a generous portion of deep fried cashew nuts decorated with a few crisp fried mint leaves. Next time I would opt for the snacks platter of medu vada, masala vada, Mysore bonda, bhaji and samosa.Dosa and mealsMasala Dosai, meaning pancake filled with potato, is one of my favourite dishes so I could hardly fail to like this place. The server explained that Madras Masala Dosa was relatively mild, whilst the Mysore Masala Dosa was spicier. The Madras version was spicy enough for me. The 'Meals' include the good value Mini Tiffin at only £5.99 which would be a good lunch or cheap supper, containing drink, mini masal dosa, mini thuappam, idly, vada, upma and sweet.Our 'South Indian Meal' at £6.50 was listed as Sweet, chappathi, rice, sambar, rasam, special kuzhambu, vegetable curries, raitha, curd, appalam and pickle. The pickle looked a bit like beetroot.Quite enough to keep you interested. The yogurt was an antidote to our vegetable dish which was too spicy for me.VegetablesWe ordered Dal (lentil) and spinach. We had enough food to take home the cashew nuts and the dish of vegetables. Our server asked us if we wanted the leftover food to go. They don't have a separate menu for take away but seem quite happy to wrap things up.DessertsThe menu includes ice cream, kulfi, gulab jamun and payasam. The thali contains a small circular dish of yogurt and another of noodle pudding, a bit like sweet rice pudding with the noodles and what might have been tapioca in lots of liquid sauce.According to Wikipedia payasam is a rice pudding made in Southern India for weddings or as an offering to the gods and it can be made with coconut milk and banana.ToiletsOne cubicle for men and one for women but the ladies' was filled with food and paint so I went in the other unisex toilet which was boringly basic but reasonably sized.I could not find any toilet paper. A good thing to remember to bring your own or take a paper napkin from the table.ParkingWe parked right outside on a weekend evening. Check parking restrictions.Location ChoicesWe had no trouble getting a table. It's worthwhile heading in this direction to have a look.Next door is another vegetarian Indian place, more of a take away though it has tables. The Lahore is a few steps away on the next corner. If you are after tasty budget food and drink and not bothered about smart surroundings at peak hours before seven p.m. you could start or end by having a variety of cups of coffee at the Costa in nearby Tesco.A good, quick filling snack meal at under £25 for two.

A User - 11/01/2009 | report this review