Punitha's invites you to 'wine and dine in South Indian style', which is the way I like to do it if I opt to eat Indian food, 9although, I have to admit to being rather partial to a few of the North Indian dishes as well, some of which are available here... perfect!). I love Southern Indian food! It's not that I'm biased either... I used to live in South India... it's just that they do amazing things like Dosa, Puri and Idly as well as the world famous Thali meals, that allow you to try all sorts of different dishes and flavours as one meal without having to spend a fortune. The other thing about South Indian food is that they use a lot of coconut. The South of India is sub-tropical unlike the North, and so it's ideal for growing these beautiful nuts, which inevitably have influenced their style of cooking. The South Indians use the whole of the fruit including the flesh, the milk and the oil from the flesh in their cooking (they also use the oil to give their hair a healthy sheen, and they use the other bits of the nut as well, making serving spoons, jewellery and other practical and ornate items from the hard shell, as well as coir string and matting, amongst other things, from the coarse hair of the nut... The Indian people are genius when it comes to making good use of everything!) I love coconut chutney. It's delicious! Although Sambar, (which I don't like), is more readily available in the UK based South Indian restaurants, it is just as common to find coconut chutney alongside Sambar in the Southern India restaurants. Both can be eaten with pretty much everything if you like, but the coconut chuney is best served with things like Puri, Dosa or Idly in my opinion. Punitha's do a fine chutney... in fact they do everything pretty well! They are a little pricey, (but then again, I'm used to paying 15 Rupees for a a Masala Dosa (about 20 pence), and less for Idly and Puri!) The service is certainly a lot slower in the UK than you would expect from an Indian located restaurant, but somewhat perversely, the busier the place is, the better the levels of service... I think they just get into a rhythm! read more