A few Thursdays ago, we were lucky enough to have a dinner date at The Anarkali Indian Restaurant in Hammersmith West London.
Indian is one of my absolute fave cusines, I've been chowing down on Indian food for as long as I can remember!
On arrival I informed the waiter we had a table booked, I wasn't entirely sure he'd heard what I'd said. We were shown to a table and started browsing the menu over poppadums' and chutney.
In my opinion you can't do an Indian without poppadums', they are a staple part of an Indian meal. I was pleasantly surprised that there were six different chutneys/dips to try, I find most Indian restaurants usually have four. All tasted great but the lime pickle was probably my fave, I do love a bit of spice!
I decided not to opt for a starter as I find Indian quite filling and I waned to ensure there was plenty of room for my main. The OH went for Prawn Puree for his starter.
It was presented nicely and my OH said he enjoyed the flavours but started to feel full fairly quickly. I did warn him that puree dishes are filling!
For my main course I ordered Vegetable Thali. If you're not familiar with 'Thali' dishes they give a little taster of a few dishes along with rice and naan. Here's what I got to try out, onion bhaji, sag paneer, aloo gobi, tarka daal and bhindi bhaji. I loved trying out the varied selection and would definitely recommend it!
My OH commented on how it didn't look like there was much food but believe me there was plenty and I couldn't finish it! I recommend trying a Thali as it enables you to try more than a couple of things, perhaps dishes you haven't tasted before or if Indian cusine is new to you, Thali is a good start! Anarkali also serve a meat version too for those of you that like meat in every dinner.
We were both way too full for pudding so we asked for the bill. When it arrived I quickly realised that I hadn't been heard when we arrived. We were expecting the drinks to be on the bill but the food had also been added. A bit of an embarrassing situation but it was rectified quickly, even though the staff appeared to have no idea we were meant to be there that evening.
Overall we had an enjoyable date night at the Anarkali restaurant. The atmosphere was pleasant and the staff were attentive. There is a large selection of dishes to choose from that will suit everyone's spice palette, from mild to very hot.
* We received a free meal in exchange for a review. All views are entirely my own
