Madhus

Below is a meal from July 2005, by way of comparison..

The upstairs room has stripped wood floor and tasteful modern lighting.  The general look is contemporary: chairs are modern black leather, while tablecloths are white linen.  Popadoms came with three chutneys: a mango chutney that was fine but from a jar, a good home made mint chutney and a home-made tamarind sauce that tasted good but was rather thin for practical use with popadoms.  “Achari prawn” is basically king prawns marinated in spices and cooked in the new tandoor.  The tandoor is gas-based rather than charcoal-based, so you don’t get the true charcoal flavour of the best places in India, but the prawns were cooked very well indeed, tender and having absorbed the spices, served with a simple salad of shredded carrot, beet and cabbage (14/20).  Aloo papri chat had whole pooris amongst the chickpeas and yogurt/tamarind sauce, and had good flavour (11/20). 

Methi chicken was a huge improvement over the old chef, the chicken tender and resting in a dark, thick fenugreek sauce (13/20).  Masala fish was tilapia, carefully cooked in a lively sauce (12/20) while dal makhani featured black lentils cooked carefully, though the sauce was rather thin in texture for my liking (11/20).  Pulao rice was excellent, as were a non-greasy paratha and, a major improvement, a light fluffy naan (13/20).  For dessert halwa was tasty and well made, while kulfi is home-made and good, though served tonight a little too cold (12/20).  Coffee, usually the bane of Indian restaurants, is now from a modern Italian espresso maker, and was very pleasant (13/20).  Service was extremely good, with a new team of attentive staff.  The female reception staff wear beautiful black saris, whilst the waiters are uniformed.

Further reviews: 19th Sep 2015 | 25th Nov 2013 | 02nd Jun 2013 | 26th Apr 2011 | 01st Jun 2010