Harters

CORN MILL, LLANGOLLEN Brunning & Price back on form! Had an enormous portion of very tasty braised lamb shoulder. Came with Puy lentils, cooked in stock with onion and other stuff. Good range of veg - cauli, beans, carrots, cabbage. Herself only wanted a prawn sandwich (but then she is a Man United fan).

DINING ROOM, HIGH STREET Only open six weeks, it shares its eponymous space, doubling as the breakfast room for the B & B which is the main occupier of the building. It could be a disaster but, under separate (and obviously very competent) management, there’s no sense that this is anything other than a nice little bistro that you’d love to have near wherever you live. It deserves every success. With only about 20 covers, it is not going to get ahead of the husband and wife team who run it. He cooks, She does everything else. Between them, they have damn good menu, offering about five choices at each course, with three courses setting you back around £25. Scotch eggs are now almost classic bistro fayre and, here, a smoked haddock version was a delight. Real smokiness in the fish, an egg just cooked leaving the yolk perfect for dunking the asparagus soldiers. There’s an intent to try maintain some seasonality and, whilst the Scotch Egg looks set to be a favourite for the menu, there will soon be a new spin to the dish once the asparagus season is finished. The other starter was from a short specials board. A quite retro-looking crayfish cocktail. Rocket provided the greenery; a good helping of crayfish; decent Marie Rose sauce and a few pea shoots on top as garnish. My wife continued her retro meal with a grilled ribeye of Welsh beef, with a brandy, cream and peppercorn sauce. Sauce was damn good and it reminded us of why it’s a classic – rich and with just the right bite from the pepper. It had a few pickled wild mushrooms on the side which added an almost chutney taste. My own plate of duck read more of the autumn than early summer with its blackberry sauce and parsnip crisps. But, in the event, it was light and delicious, with the blackberries giving a good sweet/sour flavour cutting the richness of the duck. A separate bowl of new potatoes, carrot, celery and courgette were well cooked and served unadorned. Unfortunately, there was no Black Forest gateau to continue the 70s revival and we both went for a rhubarb and elderflower fool. Maybe a touch heavy in texture, but there was a summery lightness to the taste. A layer of rhubarb had been just cooked through, so it retained a slight crunch. This divided us. I thought it added a good texture contrast. Herself wasn’t that keen. On the side was a shot glass of raspberry liqueur which didn’t really add anything but, generally, this was a fab sweet. Throughout, service had been excellent. It was one of those places where, when you’ve been sat down for five minutes, you just know everything will be OK. Being new, they were keen to know how customers had not only found the restaurant (Google in our case), but seemed genuinely interested in folk’s opinions of the food. I really hope they do well. It’ll be easy in the holiday season – the winter will be the real test.

PORTH TOCYN HOTEL Round these parts, we call Abersoch "Wilmslow on Sea". It's not intended as a compliment. And whilst the number of "flash motors" suggest that the fur coat and no knickers brigade is certainly around, there's been no development of decent eateries. I was last in Abersoch in 1967 as a spotty teenager. By then the Porth Tocyn had already been in the Good Food Guide for 10 years and has kept its slot ever since. It now rates a Cooking 4 which, on the basis of our dinner, is pushing it. Much as we wanted to really enjoy; much as we tried to really enjoy, there were just too many gaps. It isn’t as though the service is lousy. It isn’t. It’s friendly and, although not the sharpest you’ll ever come across, gets the job done. It isn’t for a want of generosity. It isn’t that the menu doesn’t read well. It’s just the food doesn’t hit the mark in terms of taste. The Porth Tocyn has an absolutely cracking location overlooking the bay. Rabbits bound about the gardens. It is, frankly, just lovely. But we got no sense of them being welcoming to customers. Here’s how we started when announcing our presence. “Hello, we’ve got a reservation, name of Hartley”. “What time is that for?” “8 o’clock”. Then, without any hint of irony “Is that for tonight?” And three times during the evening, there seemed to be a need for a member of staff to check our names. Starter #1 was an OK assembly job. A disc of flaky pastry, topped with wilted spinach and a small mackerel fillet, finished with a scattering of olives and anchovies (at least the menu said there would be anchovies, but there was no sign of them). Dish would have been improved if the fish skin had been crisped up rather than being left flabby. Starter #2, described as a crab tian, topped with salmon ceviche and encircled with pickled cucumber and confit tomato. At least that’s how the menu described this light and pleasant enough dish. Although whether the words tian, ceviche, pickled and confit had any recognisable place here is another matter. My main of lemon sole was a tasteless mush of “white stuff” on the plate. It might have been lifted by the “lemon hollandaise” (isn’t the “lemon” superfluous when describing hollandaise?) – if only there had been any significant lemon flavour to this otherwise yellow gloop. The accompaniments of crushed new potatoes, asparagus mousse and samphire were, by far, the best things on the plate. Halibut fillet sat in a “bouillabaisse”. Or, at least, it sat in a thin and fairly flavourless stock along with a few bits of indeterminate white fish. Halibut itself was very good – a large portion of good flavour and perfectly cooked. An accompanying tiger prawn also tasted fine but was messy to eat, covered as it was in a thin white sauce that was passed off as aioli. A finger bowl would have been handy. As would a larger portion of the saffron rice which amounted to only a tablespoon. I’d mentioned a generosity. It had started with the cheesy biscuits served with the aperitifs. It continued with the offer of a jug of water for the table – no upselling of bottled stuff. And it continued on with the cheese which is offered as an alternative to dessert (as is a savoury – in this case Scotch Woodcock). Cheese is laid out on a separate table and you are invited to help yourself. A good selection of English & Welsh products here – a Cheshire, smoked Lancashire, Blacksticks Blue, a Stilton and a couple of offerings from the Snowdonia Cheese Co. There’s biscuits, celery, chutney and wide range of fruit. Coffee and petit fours are also help yourself in the lounge. Good coffee. Nice sweet nibbles. It has cost £40 plus drinks which, if the mains had been better, would have been quite good value. But they weren’t, so it wasn’t.

BODYSGALLEN HALL, LLANDUDNO A bargain lunch in a classic old-fashioned chintzy country house hotel (now owned by the National Trust). £22.50 gets you three courses from a short menu, of about 5 items per course. Costs start to ratchet up, of course, once you’ve decided to have a drink. We had an aperitif in the lounge which came with a good selection of “bar nibbles”. As to food, minted pea soup, with crème fraiche, was bang-on as a summer starter. Similarly successful was a small fillet of red mullet which sat on a few leaves and a scattering of orange and grapefruit. The citrussy effect was heightened by a coriander dressing. It could easily have overpowered the fish. It didn’t. A main of just cooked through cod fillet came with a quenelle of smoked bacon brandade, a few local Conwy mussels, some wilted spinach and a mild mustard sauce. Good well balanced dish. Impossible for me not to choose the lamb, or should that be llamb as we’re in Wales. Rump in this case. And very delicious and tender, even if cooked a tad past pink. It came with tarragon mash (which, I have to say, wouldn’t have been my first choice for flavouring the spuds), a couple of sautéed morels, asparagus and creamed cabbage. Nothing fancy here – just good lunchtime cooking. Desserts, however, were a disappointment. Yoghurt panna cotta was bland and boring. Advertised as coming with roasted peach, the plate was adorned with four of the thinnest discs of flavourless nothingness that could be imagined. A small baked Alaska came with a blackberry compote. It read well on the menu but just wasn’t very nice. Things bucked up again with good coffee back in the lounge. Service throughout had been excellent and I’d certainly call again when passing. And might even try them for dinner and stopover.

Malcolm Much as I've also enjoyed the food at the Marquis, surely you're not really considering this to be a pub are you? Whilst the building once was, it certainly ain't now - very serious full-on restaurant, IMO. John

I may be returning sooner than I'd planned. They currently have a cracking deal - starter, main, side dish, daal, rice, naan, dessert and a half bottle of wine per person for £18.50.. Voucher here if you're interested: http://www.onionring.co.uk/printoffer.asp?OID=1246

CAFE ISTANBUL, BRIDGE STREET It’s never going to win great accolades but this very long-standing restaurant is probably where you’re going to go if you want to eat Turkish food in the city centre (but for better Turkish-ish food, then try the Armenian on Albert Square). It provides a good dinner , albeit one lacking any WOW factor. But there’s a nice room, excellent service, a menu that widens out from just kebabs and provides a really excellent selection of decent wines by the glass. They offer a mezze plate as a starter but we decided to make our own. Stuffed vine leaves were very much what you’d expect (except in voice heavy with condemnation, my partner pronounced Marks & Sparks to be better flavoured). A portion of sucuk brought several slices of char-grilled spicy sausage. We’d not had this before so have no idea what it’s supposed to be like – but I liked the firm, slightly chewy texture and the hit from chilli. A plate of mixed olives and pickled chilli peppers were well flavoured; the crispness of the peppers making up for the fact that, on first bite, the pickling juice ran down my shirt front. Best of all was imam bayildi – a dish we make at home and confirm this was a good effort. As expected, the aubergine, tomatoes, peppers and onion were all cooked through till soft but not to a mush, so each could still be tasted. Would have been even better if the kitchen had got it out of the fridge before service. A main of lamb casserole was a large portion of meat, peppers, tomato together with a thin sauce. It was OK but was somewhat one-dimensional and really needed “something” doing to it to lift it. Came with salad and some very flavoursome and perfectly cooked rice. Lamb was also the other main. This time a large chunk of very slow roasted leg that simply pulled apart with the fork. It came with an apricot sauce which worked reasonably well adding a sweetness but, perhaps, a little too sweet. Rice was also here and a few quickly sautéed veg (carrot, courgette, mangetout). We went away satisfied and very full. It was a good feed.

Broadly on-topic as I'd be intending to do some dining. I've been to Ludlow a few times and always enjoy the weekend. Thinking of having a change. Any thoughts from your experiences?

Unfortunately, not a thing in my part of the world, so the following ideas are all London: Ishbilia, Knightsbridge. Noura, Mayfair And, perhaps not quite up to the others, I also like the various offerings from Maroush which has a number of outlets around Edgware Road. Maroush 3 is probably the nicest. If you're looking for something more "back street", I can offer you a couple of Manchester places.

Probably South Manchester’s best Indian restaurant. And, for once, it is Indian not Bangladeshi or Pakistani owned. They say they cook to Ayurvedic principles and, no doubt, you’d need to know what they are to get the full health benefits of the cuisine. No, me neither. But I do know the menu is a world away from your high street curry house and that the kitchen has a skill and lightness of touch with the spicing. Aloo tikki were two potato cakes encasing a mix of peas and ginger. Pleasant enough and enhanced by a little yoghurt and tamarind sauces which had been “squiggled” together on the plate quite cheffily. The other starter was the better pick. Jhaal moori was a new one on us – a mix of puffed rice, chopped peanuts, chickpeas and a spicy chutney. It was very similar to the more common bhel puri – but without the yoghurt and tamarind which normally gets drizzled. An altogether drier dish but one which worked, particularly with the range of textures as well as flavours. We both wanted lamb as a main. Like the more familiar rogan josh, rogan-e-nissat is a long cooked lamb dish from Kashmir. But unlike the familiar, this is a thin gravy, with no tomato, which relies heavily on matchsticks of ginger to give it a real zing. From the other end of India came Chugar Gosht, apparently one of Hyderabad’s specialities. Again you could taste the lamb as it wasn’t masked by an overuse of chilli. It looked like the familiar sag lamb but here the spinach was described as “bitter”. And so it was, but only a hint of bitterness which contrasted well with the other flavours. Google tells me that the chugar leaves are the leaves from the tamarind. As well as sharing these two, we also ordered a Hyderabadi yellow dahl which was quite poky with chilli but softened with the inclusion of mango. Nice, if a little thin in texture. For carbs, some plain basmati rice and a pudhina (mint) paratha. The latter was a standard paratha sprinkled with dried mint (for which a heavier hand would have benefitted). Food came to a very reasonable £34, to which a 10% service charge is added.

We did similar at home a couple of Cups ago - matching dinner to whoever England was playing. Game against Holland wasnt the most thrilling meal I've ever eaten.

Yep. I guess it's a nervy thing if you havnt done it (and European roads tend to be narrow and more windy than yours). That said, and still sticking to the food front, I'd urge you to consider doing it - just for the complete flexibility of finding places and stopping for as long as you want without having to consider someone you're employing.

Considering the number of Americans who visit Ireland and seem averse to driving themselves, I'd have thought that you should find a guide relatively easily. It really isnt that difficult to drive on the "wrong side" - we do it every time we visit the States or, indeed, most other European countries - and it would give you the total flexibility of finding good food at your own pace.

'Tis a weakness of mine, particular when the points are relatively obscure and, as you say, pedantic. But, just to clarify. Your great, or even good, pub food experiences is what I would be interested in reading - this is a dining sub-forum, after all. As for my recent experiences, I would still say that they are relative. In these cases, relative to the two pubs near to home and, on that basis, my reports have been about "great" food. I rarely find even a "great" meal to be faultless and I think it's helpful to a readership to mention these as well as the "great" points. The exception to this is the notes about Pen-y-Bryn (above) which was a poor meal and which I commented on by way of contrast to the otherwise good experiences at other places owned by this chain. So, "good", "fair", "great" whichever - be thankful that I am not American so you will never read "awesome" in my posts.

Interesting the mention of Rhug, Matthew. I'm passing near the farm shop in a couple of weeks and am intending to pop in to fill a few gaps in the freezer.

I guess that, as always with these things, it's a subjective matter of taste. What might be great to you, might be shite to me and vice versa. I'd certainly be interested to see your posts suggesting where you do think is great - it all adds to the available information on the board.

Spot on. I reckon Alan caught a bad dose of what I think we should designate as Aiden Byrne Syndrome. On the other hand, Tom and Kenny came across as great blokes - the sort you'd want to sit down with and chat about food,football and putting the world to rights. I reckon the final menu turned out to be be a winner (although I had thought Kenny's starter had looked an absolute stunner).

Agreed - but we always seem to do much better there than Aldi.

Well, I think it's partially because this is the UK dining sub-forum and, specifically, the OP was about food in pubs. I can't speak for others but I rarely mention alcohol in any of my posts as I don't drink it. As for pubs not displaying their beer lists, this may be because of the "tied" nature of many pubs. That is "tied" as in tied into supply arrangements with a single brewery. So, for example, the two pubs in my village are tied to the same one - Hydes - so will only sell their beers (and a guest one, which changes only periodically). Other places, which are not tied, can source their beers from wherever they like. For example, the Brunning & Price Group, which I mention upthread, is one such and, in fact, its website does mention which beers are stocked. I'm talking proper beer here, not bottled lager.

The name translates as “temptations” and what tempted us towards this place was its tasting menu which was full of Italian delights and priced very reasonably at £45.50 (or £65.50 to include a glass of wine at each course). We kicked off with a little puff pastry cheese tart and then moved on to what would prove to be the finest dish of the meal. A delicate lobster and saffron soup surrounded a small fillet of red mullet, some crisp fried pasta and a few shavings of truffle. This was simply delicious. The chef had sourced a delivery of truffle and it appeared on just about every dish except dessert. Next came ravioli, stuffed with an artichoke puree and served with softened cherry tomatoes and mint. This was light and summery and will improve as tomatoes improve. A fillet of lemon sole, perfectly fried , came with wild mushrooms, more truffle and a grain mustard sauce. Good dish – the mustard could easily have overpowered the fish here but there had been a light touch and it provided just the right amount of piquancy. A sorbet of Granny Smiths provided a tangy interlude – from truffle. On to the main course – breaded lamb chop, underseasoned, undercooked and bit chewy. It could have been rescued by a really flavoursome caponata but this was also underflavoured with none of the sweet/sourness that you except. A deep fried courgette baton and one of asparagus were the best things on the plate. A pre-dessert was a shotglass of flavoured cream topping a few berries. Dessert was little short of awful. Described as sweet pastry pear tart with almond cream and cinnamon ice cream, the pastry was overcooked and unpleasantly hard; the pear itself was tasteless yet everything was overly sweet and there was no discernable taste (of anything) in the ice cream. We finished with some very good coffee. Front of house had been very much on the ball but gaps in between courses were too long – not helped by the chef constantly popping out of the kitchen to have a drink or to fiddle with the computer. That said, the food had generally been good and in proper portions (we didn’t go away hungry). Wines were also of pretty good quality and, apart from a Slovenian Riesling, were all Italian. The whole deal felt very good value.

It might call itself a gastropub. It might even be in somewhere that was once a pub. But, just to be clear, a pub it ain’t. There’s no-one popping in here for a swift half of mild. This, by any of the readily understood criteria, is a “restaurant”. And a restaurant serving pretty good, if relatively straightforward, food. One of their “snacks” is a Scotch egg. Or “scotched” egg as they rather prissily, and meaninglessly, call it. It’s a good couple of mouthfuls – just cooked egg, venison sausage meat, crisp coating. Although, I have to say, I prefer my Scotch eggs to be cold rather than warm – but perhaps “scotched” eggs can be warm. One of the proper starters was excellent. A fillet of red mullet, battered and fried, sat on top of a braise of peas, lettuce and shrimps and accompanied by a small pot of saffron mayo. Very summery braise. Crisp batter. Tasty fish. The other starter was more of an assembly job and was less successful. A strip of very crisp pastry, topped with smoked eel. Scattered over, some sliced shallot and a few shards of rhubarb. A little salad of watercress and pickled beetroot alongside. And some horseradish cream. The eel was only very lightly smoked (a bit too delicate perhaps) and the rhubarb and beetroot which should have counter-balanced the oiliness simply didn’t pack the flavour punch to do so. Only the horseradish cream added anything of another dimension. Served with the starters was some excellent bread – a sourdough and a soda. A main of mackerel was clever in its simplicity (and was very similar to Kenny Atkinson’s recent dish on Great British Menu). The whole fish had been butterflied, deboned, stuffed with fennel, wrapped in a thin slice of sourdough bread and then baked. Accompanied by nothing more than a salad of Isle of Wight tomatoes, rocket, red onion and green beans. Perfect. The other plate brought two delicious lamb chops, although cooked more medium than pink. Cabbage came in two forms – pickled red and a steamed green – a good contrast. But the real stars on the plate were the two croquettes of haggis and turnip – I could have eaten just these as a “main event”. A little “green sauce” and a scattering of caperberries completed the dish. Good pub food. Bitter marmalade ice-cream would have been a success in its own right. Accompanied by homemade Hob Nobs, it was lifted to something even more delicious. The other dessert was a thick buttermilk cream topped by a few raspberries. A couple of pieces of a very buttery shortbread sat alongside. Good pud! This was a thoroughly enjoyable meal which the Harwood offers at a competitive price – mains are around £16 and I don’t begrudge that. Service from the crew of young women was good. But is this Michelin starred food? Well, it has its single star but when I compare it to other similarly acclaimed places in my neck of the woods, I feel there’s something lacking. There’s not the inventiveness, there’s not the execution, there’s not the level of service. So, if it is worthy of its star, then there are many, many other places round the country similarly deserving.

From time to time, you know that a place is “right” as soon as you sit down. There’s an immediate feeling that the food is going to be good and the service is going to move along so effortlessly that you don’t really realise it’s happening. Moti Mahal is one of these rare places. We’d booked through TopTable and were immediately advised that, as such, the set menu would be available to us at 50% discount. However, we’d already decided to go with the main menu. The food on the carte is not offered in the traditional western style of separate courses but simply as dishes intended to be shared and which arrive as they are cooked. If you’re unfamiliar with this style, it can cause a quandary but I’d taken advice on another board and knew exactly what we wanted to eat. In the event, the food did not arrive in a complete hotchpotch but in two waves, I guess sort of representing starter and main courses. Chapli kebab – tender, moist, well seasoned lamb, with the flavour of mint in there as almost the traditional accompaniment to lamb. Here was meat is not moulded into a sausage shape and cooked until firm like a seekh kebab but, rather, served as a flat patty with the meat just pushed together into shape. It made for a very light and delicious item. Nihari – Very long cooked lamb shank – probably the tastiest lamb of any cuisine we’ve eaten in a long time. The gravy fragrant with ginger and something else (cumin?) Subz-e-bashist – a mix of broccoli, paneer, mushrooms and peppers. All individually seasoned and cooked in the tandoor. The peppers were particularly good with a tamarind (?) coating. That said, perhaps the least successful of the dishes and not to my partner’s taste. Kararee Bhyein – Crisply fried slices of lotus stem, mixed with peanuts and finished with coriander. This was superb – the crispness bringing an uncommon texture to an Indian meal. Bhalla papdi chaat – a curry house staple raised to a completely different level here. Superb mix of textures and flavours in one dish – crisp pastry, mealy chickpeas, soft yogurt, tangy tamarind, pomegranate seeds. Perfect. Dal makhani – another “standard” but none the less for that. A “cut your own” salad was presented with the first wave of dishes. And, with the second, a selection of breads - a standard naan, one with green chilli, and a tandoori roti. All very light and fresh tasting (well, they were fresh – the tandoor section of the kitchen overlooks the dining room, and we were able to watch the skill of the chefs.). Quantities were just right for two people – albeit two enthusiastic eaters. I had room for dessert – a selection of halwa (carrot, lentil & saffron, squash & pistachio). My previous experiences with halwa have been a dense confection, served cold. Here it was warm and much lighter, the vegetables simply grated. Over them, the waiter shaved from a block of what he described as condensed milk, in the same way as you might shave truffle over pasta. I’d be back here like a shot on our next visit.

DUKE OF PORTLAND, LACH DENNIS, CHESHIRE I mentioned the Duke upthread but this is the first time I've had chance to write-up a meal. Back in 2008, we said we’d return here to give it a second chance and it's taken us this. As before, the main carte is heavy on provenance and, on this Sunday lunchtime, there were elements of this still in the much foreshortened menu available. And, as before, things were not perfect. I started with a Cheshire blue cheese salad – mixed leaves, candied walnuts, croutons and dice of the cheese. The cheese came from Heler’s at nearby Nantwich (a creamery rather than farmhouse cheese). It was OK – but it was only OK – it was just a cheese salad after all. I then had the beef & Guiness pie. Or, rather, pies – as, oddly, two of them were served. They came with decent non-sloppy mash, some mixed veg and gravy which tasted as though it had actually been made in a kitchen rather than a factory. It was a hefty looking plate of food unfortunately let down by the pie’s somewhat soggy pastry and the soggy and rather meagre contents. My wife went for a ham hock starter. It came in a mini-Kilner jar in the fashionable way that places tart up an otherwise indifferent product. Meat was OK and of a good chunky texture. It came with bread and piccalilli. Bread was white and tasteless. Piccalilli was yellow mush – no texture and much more a bland sauce than a tart, crunchy pickle. She followed that with a burger and chips. Here the provenance kicked in – this wasn’t just a beefburger; this was beef from Ken Webb’s farm, a couple of miles away in Lower Peover. It was good. Not so good were the chips which, although cooked in dripping, had none of the taste and crispness that you might have expected. So, some parts of this meal were good. But not really enough of them. And value for money? Not that good either – everything felt that it was a pound or two overpriced for what it was. It'd be a place to stop if in the immediate area and, perhaps, the evening menu might have better offerings (as might the 2 course for £15 "market menu" available weekday lunches).

SAM'S CHOP HOUSE Sam’s is the place you’d take a foreign visitor who wanted to try “traditional” English food. It’s all dark oak panels in the dining area and brown Victorianesque tiles in the toilets. It’s quite a while since we were last here and, indeed, on that occasion, my partner was sussing out the place as a venue for her to host a meal for her European colleagues. It worked well, apart from a couple of “near vegetarians” who were not well served by the heavy offerings of flesh. Suits us fine. Smoked salmon provided one starter – a light cure to the fish, accompanied by potato salad which had a hint of horseradish, beetroot puree and a very thin rye crispbread. Not so much a traditional taste of Manchester but the nod towards eastern Europe perhaps reflects the changing make-up of the city – or it’s a nod to earlier immigrants of a century or more ago. Whichever way you look at it, this was a good offering of a classic. It was followed by the “Roast Beef Dinner” which did exactly as it says. Slices of sirloin, cooked to medium, a good Yorkshire pud, roast spuds crispy on the outside, fluffy inside, carrots, broccoli and separate jug of gravy. Not bad. But not as my partner cooks. The accompaniments outshining the beef. I seemed to have the better of the ordering. A starter of homemade pork pie gave me everything I want. Good pastry, some meat chopped as well as minced giving texture, a tasty jelly – and some excellent piccalilli on the side – crispy, vinegary, mustardy – perfect. For a main, I had “baby’s head” as we sometimes call it in these parts – or steak and kidney pudding as it’s better known. We probably all know the Hollands version at the chippy and this is nothing like it. A firm suet pastry, encasing long cooked beef and nicely generous ratio of kidney. A big spoonful of thick and solid mushy peas – none of the liquid slop you often come across. And some very decent chips – seemingly cut from real potato in a real kitchen. And a jug of gravy. Service was good and the prices are very reasonable*. And the folk on the next table were foreign. * Exceptionally reasonably priced for us tonight. Mrs H has been given a "Hi-Life Dining" card as a pressie that basically gives you a 2 for 1 deal. Now I have to say that there aren't too many places available that we want to go and eat at - so I can't see us renewing it ourselves. But a nice thoughtful gift from someone who knows we enjoy eating out.

AKBAR'S Ages since we've been here. It's still as good as it was. Chicken liver tikka was an interesting spin on the usual western starter serving. Moist, just cooked through, livers; punchy spicing. Onion & potato bhaji - not at all greasy and the potato adding an interesting texture. Star of the starters was the nephew's lamb chops. He said they were best he'd had anywhere. They looked great but there was zero chance of getting a taste as it took him next to no time to hoover them up. He also got the best of the mains with an on-the-bone lamb handi. Mrs H & I both had the bone-off karahi gosht. All three dishes providing very generous portions of long cooked tasty lamb, wiht the small amount of sauce just clinging to the meat. Perfect. For carbs, we waded through a couple of portions of rice, couple of really crisp roti and one of those naans which come hanging vertically off a, erm, hanger. Great, if silly, showmanship - and your bread goes cold quickly.