Feb 2005

Samad's was unusually busy. It is our normal stop-off point for a quiet meal on the way home from the railway station because it has a relaxed and unpretentious atmosphere, but on this Sunday night it was packed to capacity.  It is not a large restaurant, but on this night it hosted a party of about twenty, a table with three children, a couple of people eating alone and lots of people waiting for take-away (they offer free delivery in the local area). This would be a good test of service under pressure!

We were greeted pleasantly and given a large, nicely decorated table just for the two of us. We ordered a beer and tap water to drink (no objections from the waiter at all) and some papadums, all of which arrived within five minutes.  The papadums were already neatly broken, so there was no need to try and wrestle them onto the plate, and they came with six delicious chutneys and dips;  none of them were too hot for me.

On finishing these we were asked for our main orders. As a vegetarian I was impressed by the number of original, tasty-looking options.  Apart from the standard main dishes there are many Samad's specialities and you can even request different strengths of curry or modifications such as added banana/pineapple in your Korma.  Prices range from £4.50 (vegetarian) to £9.00 (King Prawns). I opted for Ariaz (which is like a Korma but with yoghurt instead of cream), a Peshwari nan and a side order of Tarka Dall. My partner decided on a dish called Lembu Murgh, which has a tomato, lemon and coriander sauce over chicken pieces, and pilau rice. Amazingly, considering the amount of custom, the food arrived beautifully presented (colourful and neat) within twenty-five minutes. Well, most of it arrived....we were missing the side order.

The food was delicious with the nan being particularly buttery and the chicken deliciously tender.  Within a minute of notifying the waiters of our missing dish, the Tarka Dall also arrived; although it was a bit runny with not enough garlic for my liking, it was tasty nonetheless and came with profuse apologies.

We asked for the bill with student discount (you might get it if you ask!) and were presented with a ticket for £21.25 (we got 10% discount) and two chocolates. A very reasonable price for a highly recommended, and classier than most, Indian restaurant. If you decide to go, it's probably best to book because it seems to be getting increasingly popular as the word gets out.

Lucy Moore