Rangoli

The dining room at this classy Indian eatery is certainly dramatic, with booths filled with red cushions and separated from the surrounding tables by wood-hewn partitions.

There are only two of us here, so it feels a bit unnecessary to be taking up a table that could potentially seat up to ten, but we secretly love feeling so important.

We start off with some palak patta chaat, which features deep-fried spinach leaves topped with yoghurt, mint chutney and sweet tamarind fruit. The leaves feel a bit crispy and overdone, but it’s still a great dish that delivers on flavour but doesn’t fill us up too much ahead of the heavy main courses.

Our other choice of starter is more predicatable; but you can’t have an Indian without onion bhajis can you?

The butter chicken comes highly recommended, so we go for that along with the dal makhani. The latter is a total dream, with its black lentils mixed with a rich butter and cream sauce, plus added tomato to stop it feeling too stodgy. The butter chicken doesn’t quite reach the same levels of perfection, and we almost feel like they have been a bit stingy with the chicken. But the tomato sauce is lovely, and we mop it all up with some butter naan, which is freshly baked, soft and absolutely divine (we show no shame in ordering a second basket).

The use of spices and different ingredients is inspiring, and there are loads of meat-free options. Overall, we’re very impressed.

WHAT IS IT...
Delicious Indian plates that offer far more than the usual classics

WHY GO...
To experience the sheer joy of dipping a warm butter naan in a bowl of creamy dal makhani