Honeymoon

Honeymoon is a romantic name for a decidedly unromantic little café/restaurant in Hounslow, an area that may conjure up many images, but rarely those of young love (Hounslow was notorious for highwaymen that preyed on travellers in the 18^th century, but is now an area of anonymous offices). This is an informal place serving South Indian and Sri Lankan food, and seems to have a thriving takeaway business in addition to the dining room. It is not really a place to linger, with a tiled floor, paper tablecloths and basic furnishings. At the back of the dining room is a bar over which is an eerie green light, suggesting that you have strayed onto the set of a 1950s sci-fi film. 

The lengthy menu has dosas at just £3.50, and main course curries mostly well under £10. In India dosas and uttapham are eaten at breakfast, but in the UK they have become synonymous with South Indian cooking. The masala dosa I tried was rather limp in texture (dosas are made on a hot iron griddle rather like a pancake, but should end up as with a thin but firm container for its spiced potato filling) yet its filling was pleasant and reasonably spiced (11/20). Better was uttapham, a sort of Indian pizza, here topped with onion and red chillies, with a good base and distinct spices (12/20). The sambal and coconut chutney served with these dishes were both above average, with vibrant spicing. 

For our main course, a king fish curry was disappointing, the sauce itself having some ginger and reasonable balance of spices, but the king fish was just scraps of fish served on the bone, with very little fish at all (10/20). Chilli chicken was better, stir-fried with red bell peppers, chillis and onion. The chicken was of pretty low quality but was cooked fine, though there was very little of it relative to the cheaper onion and peppers (11/20). Naan looked dried out but was acceptably supple (11/20) but paratha was much better, which is perhaps to be expected from a South Indian restaurant: here it was freshly made, supple and avoided any greasiness (13/20). Aloo gobi had a rather odd, creamy texture, but the potato and cauliflower themselves had retained some texture (just about 11/20). 

Service was capable and friendly. At £22 a head including drinks, it is certainly reasonably priced. If you ever come here, then stick to the South Indian dishes.