Sitaaray, Drury Lane, Covent Garden, London

Vegetarian or non-vegetarian - that was the only question that needed to be answered at Sitaaray. I like my ordering to be that uncomplicated.

Bollywood was the order of the evening. I'd rushed across London from a Bollywood themed Christmas party to this Bollywood themed restaurant housed in the New National Theatre on Drury Lane. I quite liked the atmosphere - two floors, busy but warmly cosy.

The concept is a high-end variation on that of the traditional 'thali' concept (ie unlimited helpings of a set range of curries in little metal bowls in a circular tray (the thali) - which makes for very cheap eating and plentiful refills. Given the touristy location, this was not quite the case at Sitaaray, but the concept was there - there were large set menus for a fixed price. All one had to do was decide whether they were going to be vegetarian or non-vegetarian that evening, and many many courses of food would be bought to you, and you could request more of anything you like. It sounded like a wonderful idea, particularly as it made large group ordering far less stressful than usual - (I didn't even really have to decide between veg or non veg as myself and Cel ordered one of each so that we could sample it all!)

Staff were efficient but quite curiously neither Indian nor Bollywood themed. Food started arriving quickly. Lots of snacks and starters, in well presented but tiny portions. This was not necessarily a bad thing - it meant that everything could be tasted and sampled without getting too full and everything was tasty. Tiny portions of lamb kebabs, spinach kebabs, grilled chicken, spicy potatoes, paneer, spicy mushrooms and stuffed peppers appeared in a long succession of courses - which turned out to be good for big group eating, drinking and conversation. However, we all seemed to feel the variety of small portions made us feel too mentally full to bother utilising the unlimited concept.

We were slightly distracted by the club that adjoins the restaurant - diners get free entry, but the incongruent music made us believe we should definitely steer clear.

Overall:
I was genuinely pleased and surprised to find good quality Indian food in such a touristy spot. The food, whilst not very traditional, was all beautifully presented and tasty. I enjoyed playing name-the-bollywood-star (photo), and gawping at the bollywood videos playing and liked the decor and atmosphere. The service was fine but probably not good enough to justify the hefty service charge. I think value for money was perhaps the area where this restaurant loses points. The unlimited concept sounds like it could be cheap but expensive drinks negate the savings. However the concept is great in that you can try a massive variety of foods even if you are not in a large group. I would certainly recommend to try at least once - I was very pleasantly surprised.

The Regency Club, Edware, Middlesex (UPDATED)

First impressions can be misleading. I originally posted about The Regency Club a few days ago - but after re-visiting last night, here follows an updated review (this time with pictures!)

The menu is extensive (and laminated). The food is not usual Indian-Restaurant fare. It would be far better to think of it as Indian Pub Grub - inexpensive, no-nonsense stuff with a lot of the qualities of home cooking. The main one being authenticity.

The previous visit was on a Tuesday night where the atmosphere was frantic and sports-bar like. Unexpectedly, on yesterday's Friday night visit we found the place had a far more relaxed atmosphere, (perhaps as there was no sport in sight). It felt like a lively pub - busy but not hard to find a table. The service was also far better (don't visit on a Tuesday as we did last time - it's the day off of the person who gave us really fantastic service)!

It would be a crime not to have starters here. The amazingly juicy and succulent chicken wings were as fantastic as last time. The mogho (fried cassava chips) we enjoyed last time were good, but this time we were recommended the garlic mogho instead, which turned out to be absolutely fantastic. The crispy freshly fried chips have an amazingly tasty seasoning - not just garlic, but a wonderful combination of flavours.

I was so pleased with the mogho and the chicken wings, I was almost reluctant to taste the third starter ordered - shish kebab - but this was just as delicious and well-flavoured as the other two dishes.

Then onto main courses - firstly murry chicken (chicken curry with loads of black pepper). I love this dish as it has such a different flavour to normal indian curry dishes. The pepper gives the chicken a really distinctive aftertaste. It was great with naan, but a little bit too spicy for me just with rice (I regretted not ordering the chilli paneer to go with it this time, as the sweetness of that dish would have been helpful to counteract the spiciness!) We also had 'handy' chicken (a special of the day - chicken currry cooked on the bone, which made it extra succulent. My dad loved this dish - it tasted just like my mum's cooking, which proves the authenticity of the food here. The vegetable dish we had, okra (also known as ladyfingers), was once again wonderful, and I actually preferred it to they way my mum makes it at home! High praise indeed for indian food, which I usually always enjoy in restaurants as it can't live up to her cooking!

To finish we shared a pistachio kulfi (indian ice-cream) - which I could only manage a few spoonfuls of having eaten so much, but needing something to counteract the spicy food. It was good kulfi - creamy and with a good flavour.

Overall:

Atmosphere: Relaxed and laid back. Pubby. Not very sports-bar-like this time, so a vast improvement on last time.

Service: Attentive and efficient. The food did come very quickly, but we were hungry and so this was most appreciated.

Food quality: Exceptional. Every single dish was quite fantastic. It was spicy, but with lots of flavour and not just heat. The authenticity was amazing.

Value for money: Three of us ate a huge amount of food, and had plenty to bring home with us in a doggy bag, for about £15 a head including drinks. brilliant value considering.

Overall: 8.5/10 - I will be trying to get my friends to come here.