Haandi

Grenville C. ( Over 60, Male, United Kingdom )

20/08/2010.
We went there last night.
The first noticable thing was that there were a lot middle-aged wealthy looking Indian couples having a fun dinner party at a big table in the centre of the room, also many of the other tables were occupied by well heeled looking Asian couples.
My heart leapt since this is always a good sign.
We were quickly seated, menus brought and interestingly the wine list was handed to my wife – never had this happened before – at 67 years old I was flattered to think that I looked so much younger than my young looking wife, simply brilliant!
This establishment specialises in what is described by them as ‘North Indian Frontier Cuisine’.
The menu is divided up into three pages of starters and then there is a half page of main courses followed by rice and breads etc., We had four dishes from the starters plus rice, we really struggled to finish it all, the portions are quite big.
Whilst it is true that the dishes are all fairly familiar, many of them can be found in every run of the mill Indian restaurant in the land, we found everything exceptionally well seasoned and at times very subtle indeed, the tandoor chicken tika was as good as can be imagined and everything was well presented. We drank salted lassi and then tap water.
My overall impression is that for a really well done standard Indian meal this is almost as good as the Star in the Old Brompton Road.
The decor is a pleasant sand colour with proper napery, the restaurant is child friendly, one slight niggle was that our particular waiter did not seem to have much English yet he smiled a lot which was nice.
There is it seems a take-out service which was rather surprising for a smart looking Knightsbridge ‘Indian’.
The restaurant is part of a small chain, there are also Haandis in Kampala and Nairobi. The bill for two including the service charge was £43…
This is not supposed to be haute cuisine but it was exactly what we wanted last evening.
Afterwards we slept well with not a hint of unpleasant ‘shocks’ in the night, this is more than can be said for one of the so called ‘best’ Indian restaurants listed on this site!
Recommended and will return.