Last weekend Mike and I went for a little drive to lovely Chiswick. It's only 35 mins drive from here so not too far for a great meal.




I had been asked by the restaurant to do a review for them and as Mike's favourite food is Indian I said yes straight away.

Anarkali restaurant is located in the centre of Chiswick, South West London serving traditional Indian/Bangladeshi food. We found it very easy to get to and there was lots of street parking near by.

We were welcomed by the door and taken to our table. The restaurant was spacious, airy and nicely decorated, with a large fish tank in the middle. I liked it that we didn't have to sit on top of the other guests at the restaurant as you are given enough space between the tables.






We didn't have to wait long before we got our drinks and popadoms which was served with
6 different condiments. All of them were lovely. My favourite was the yogurt and mint, although I liked the coriander and mint a lot too.

For starter I chose vegetable samosas with chana masala and Mike chose spicy prawns. We got handed a different menu to the one online, so you won't find all the dishes we had there.



My vegetable samosas were delicious. I'm not exaggerating when I say that they were the best samosas I've ever had. They were nicely presented with a chickpea salad and it was a taste sensation.



Mike's prawns were delicious too. They came with a spicy dip and the prawns themselves were covered in a spicy cashew nut coating. All in all a very satisfying starter.

I had lemonade to drink and Mike had Cobra beer which Mike managed to spill all over the table cloth, floor and a bit on himself. The staff handled this very well and rushed off to find something to dry Mike with and replaced the table cloth. Talk about testing the staff out Mike!!! They also gave him a new beer as Mike's generosity to the floor had left him with next to nothing to drink.

We had to wait a little while for our main course, but it didn't bother us much as we had a great time chatting and taking photos of Mike's new best friend. The bright yellow fish that came swimming over to him every time he turned his head towards the fish tank. As you can see from the photos they connected.



I had chosen my favourite Indian dish for my main course, vegetarian biriyani. I love it, but I always ask for tarka daal instead of the vegetable curry that normally accompanies it, as I LOVE tarka daal. I was so surprised when I saw how they presented the biriyani as it had a lid of pastry on top of the dish it came in. I had never seen that before, but was very intrigued. When I tried my food it also tasted different than other biriyani's I've had. I thought I liked biriyani before? This one I loved. It was so light and the flavours were amazing. Delicious. Portions were big, too big for me, but it's better to get too much than too little.



Mike had hariyalli chicken. It was pieces of chicken in a medium spicy sauce made of spinach, green chilies and coriander. It was served with pilau rice. Mike picked this dish as it was something he had never tried before and it was different than what he normally goes for when he has indian food. He loves hot curries and by HOT I mean hot. The flavours worked very well together. He enjoyed it very much and the rice was cooked to perfection.




We didn't have any dessert so I can't comment on these.

The staff were very attentive and helpful. They made us feel very special and welcome. It was quite busy, but the atmosphere was great. It wasn't one of those restaurants where you have to shout to make yourself heard. We also met the chef who came to thank us for the visit. We thanked him for the great food and for having us.

The prices are very reasonable, normally we would expect to pay more for such high quality food.

If you are in the area or don't mind the short travel from central London and you want a fantastic Indian/Bangladeshi meal then I would highly recommend this restaurant.

I would give it a 9/10. The only problem I had was that the menu online doesn't match the menu at the restaurant.

Thanks for having us, we will definitely be back cause when Mike's tasted a good curry like this he would want to come back and try his favourite hot curries too.

Xxx 

*This review was sponsored by Anarkali restaurant, but the views are all honest and my own.