Bahadur

This restaurant opened in 2016 in a residential area of Berlin called Wilmersdorf. The dining room is L shaped with a few outside tables. It has a tiled floor and reasonably spaced tables without tablecloths, having a relaxed ambience. It serves mostly familiar dishes from northern India, supplemented with one or two southern Indian dishes for variety.

Prawn thokku is a South Indian dish, which traditionally has prawns fried with onions, tomatoes, spices and coriander leaves. This was a dry version, the prawns shallow fried with spices. This worked well, the prawns tender and with quite a lively chilli kick to them (13:20). Murgh tikka masala is almost a cliche these days, the chicken pieces in this case cooked with tomatoes, onion and spices, garnished with fresh ginger. This version had no trace of the cream that is often used in British versions of this dish, which was no bad thing. The chicken was reasonably tender and the curry sauce mildly spiced, the fresh ginger a nice touch (12/20).

This was better than bhindi masala. Okra is a tricky thing to cook well, as it very easily turns to a slimy mush with hardly any provocation. The best versions are fried dry and retain at least a remnant of firm texture, but this one was heading worryingly towards the mushiness that all too often afflicts this dish. I have had worse and certainly soggier versions than this, but it was nothing special (11/20). On the side, pulao rice with peas was reasonable, the grains fairly distinct, and naan bread arrived hot if a little harder than I would personally prefer it (12/20).

The restaurant was actually pretty busy even on a weekday lunch, and service was friendly. The bill came to €77 (£65) per person with beer to drink, which is probably about what you would expect. Bahadur is a pleasant neighbourhood restaurant, and if you are looking for Indian food in Berlin it is certainly a pleasant enough option.