Club India

Club India opened in July 2025, set in what used to be a pub with rooms on a main road in Winnersh. The dining room has several sections and seats 70, and there are a dozen rooms also, as well as a large dedicated car park at the back of the premises. There is also some outside seating when the weather is good.

The consultant chef is Srijith Gopinath, who worked at Campton Place in the USA and is still based in that country. The head chef is Awanish Roy, originally from Bihar in easter India, who formerly worked at Saffron Summer. Mr Roy trained at the Oberoi hotel group in India and then cooked at Cinnamon Club on London. Following this he headed up the kitchen teams of Roti Chai and Chai Ki in London.  There was a tasting menu at £44.95 as well as a full a la carte menu.

There was a fairly basic wine list, that listed the producers but not the vintages. The list ranged in price from £26 to £85, and had four sparkling wines, two rose, seven white, eight red and one sweet wine. Examples were the Malborough Wharariki Sauvignon Blanc, which was listed at £32 compared to its retail price of £14.25, Choza Rioja at £40 for a wine with a shop price of £10 and Taittinger champagne at £85 compared to its market price of £49. There were several beers, with Asahi at £5.45, as well as Heineken and Stella, Kingfisher (£7.25 a pint), Peroni and Cobra.

Popadoms were crisp and came with a set of chutneys that had all been made from scratch in the kitchen. These were mango chutney, a shrimp chutney, coriander chutney and mixed berry chutney. I started with an unusual dish of pulled pork served on a base of uttapam, the South Indian version of pizza. This came with coconut chutney, curry leaves and coconut flakes, and was a genuinely lovely dish. The uttapam was light and fluffy, the pork had plenty of flavour and was tender, and the coconut complemented the pork well. The level of spicing was spot on (15/20).

Bhel poori was good, though not in the same league. The puri, puffed rice, and onion combination was all very enjoyable, but for me it needed more tamarind chutney, the overall effect was just a little too dry (13/20). Tandoori prawns were large and tender, marinated in saffron with wild garlic flavoured cumin and carom seeds with a touch of mustard before being cooked in the tandoor, and served in their shells. The prawns were served with a trio of chutneys: smoked pepper, coriander and beetroot. This was a very good dish, though taking the prawn tails out of their shells would make it easier to eat (14/20). 

Methi murgh was excellent, the chicken tender and flavoured with plenty of fenugreek and assorted spices (14/20). Black dhal was also very good, with lovely texture and plenty of smoky flavour (14/20). A side dish of aloo methi was particularly good, the potatoes having excellent texture, the spicing nicely judged (strong 14/20). Garlic naan was suitably supple and was served piping hot (14/20).

We also shared one dessert, a gajar halwa with a white chocolate garnish. This was not too sweet, the carrot flavour coming through well and was very pleasant (13/20). Coffee was from a company called Pact Coffee, and was pretty grim. This is an area that could be easily improved by switching to a speciality coffee supplier.

Service was lovely, led by an excellent restaurant manager that I recognised from when he served me at Gaylord in London some years ago. The bill was £66 per person with beer to drink, and enough food left over for another meal as takeaway. Club India was a thoroughly enjoyable experience, the food and service excellent, and at an affordable price. I wish I could say that more often these days.