Our meal at Kirthon is a mixed review. It didn't start well; a noisy group of 15 drowned out the staff and diners. Started with papadum (asked for two, literally got two). From a nice selection of starters, my companion choose King Prawn Puree disappointingly mainly puree bread with a small amount of 'creamy' sauce and minimal prawn with a wilted salad garnish. My Kirthon Mixed Kebab had a very nice, fresh onion bhaji, but nothing else remarkable except another wilted salad garnish. Being chilli lovers, we couldn't resist not sharing the Rajestani Staff Chilli. It didn't look appetising at all but tasted nice, again accompanied by wilted salad garnish. I should mention at this stage the arty cutlery, which looks nice but is completely useless for food. A three pronged fork lets rice fall through (no spoons provided) and blunt knives didn't cut through anything, so had to be used to tear food apart. My companion chose Rum Ki Bahar another disappointment; the lamb was tough, chewy and devoid of rum. I fared better with Rushni Jhinga which the menu told me was cooked in a spicy garlic sauce and one for the garlic lover. What the menu should say are prawns in a tomato sauce (NO garlic). My side of Tarka Dall had just come out of the microwave or oven or been sitting under a hot lamp as it had developed a crust, however, once mixed it tasted good and contained the previously illusive garlic! My companion had pilau rice and I choose spicy fried rice. We both commented that the spicy rice looked and tasted exactly like Batchelors Savoury Rice clearly not what you want in a restaurant! We shared a Kulcha Nan (cheese and onion) a nan with a little melted cheese on top, reminiscent of cheese on toast. On the plus side, the waiters were friendly, efficient and we couldn't fault the service, just the food. I had heard this was a good restaurant to go to and indeed it became very busy, so I am not sure why every garnish was dry and wilted. The hand drier in the gents did not work, no hand towels were provided, so we used our napkins to dry our hands. The bill arrived with complimentary brandy and chocolates (always a nice touch), my companion, who had not liked the food enough to eat all of it, remarked the chocolate was the nicest part of the meal. I think I fared better with my choices, but with a little more effort, the meal could have been so much nicer. read more
