Benfleet Tandoori

AFTER years in the East End of London I got used to Indian food and in the end one restaurant tasted fairly much like the other, with the odd exceptions of course.

So when I moved to Benfleet just under three years ago my opinion of Indian food hadn't changed and I expected them to be much of a muchness. East Ham, East End, Benfleet, doesn't matter where you are, it's Indian food after all.

But you can be wrong, so wrong. There is more to any restaurant than just its food.

Ambience and hospitality play a big part in whether you return for a second time or even make it the Indian restaurant of your choice.

Well, this is what happened to my wife and I when we decided to eat at The Benfleet Tandoori. The restaurant had been recommended to us by several relatives living in the area and to our surprise it was everything they told us it would be.

What made it appealing first of all was the wonderfully warm welcome by both by the proprietor Ahad and his conscientious staff. Not only do they go out of their way to make you feel comfortable, but they fuss you all evening to make certain your meal is exactly as you would wish it to be. And the food itself - divine, simply divine.

It's no good me telling you what I ate at any particular time because I have been there so often that I change dishes on virtually every occasion so that my palate gets to taste everything available at The Benfleet Tandoori.

Only the other week I decided to try them for a takeaway having been disappointed with many of the takeaway restaurants in the area. And I tried a dish I had never had before - chicken patthia. Oh my god, what a tingler on the taste buds, a superb meal accompanied by pilau rice, bombay potato and a chapati.

Whatever you decide to eat here, be it dansak, patthia, masala, jalfrezi, thali, tikka or korahi, your taste buds are going to be filled with excitement.

And the staff are there to make sure that not only your meal is presentable and to your liking, but that you are suitably filled with drinks and side orders. They are not over the top, but polite and very attentive.

To think I tarred all Indian restaurants with a similar brush when I lived in East Ham, but the Benfleet Tandoori stands out for me as everything a good restaurant should be.