First Indian in months

 We finally decide to venture out in the evening for our first Indian meal in ages, to one of 4 on Brighton Road, Surbiton. We chose the Red Rose as it looked the smartest.  We're given a table in the window, suitably distant from others - there are three or four other tables occupied.  The decor is what we have to regard as Surbiton standard - pale grey, LEDs spots - with a few Indian images added.  Some light jazz background music. 

Service is very prompt, as we order a bottle of Shiraz and some pappadums. The pappadums come with chutneys including some pink coconut flakes and a very interesting pale green one. Unusually for us at an Indian we decide to order starters - B chooses the starter chicken tikka and have the Goan chilli king prawn. The tikka is quite moist, though benefits from having some of the chutney with it. The three butterflied prawns come with Goan chillies - large, with seeds still in, but not too punchy if you avoid the seeds -a a nice buttery garlic sauce. 

For mains we have ordered tamarind chicken, king prawn lahori, pilau rice, mushrooms bhaji, and bhindi bhaji. These arrive quite quickly too, though to be fair the waiter did ask whether we were ready for them. The chicken tikka comes with a garlic and chilli sauce (Madras hot) as well the sweet/sour tamarind - very good. The prawns are stir-fried with ginger, garlic and peppers - a good sized portion in a  very rich sauce. Mushrooms are sliced with a little garlic, and the bhindi in wedges; pilau rice was less interesting, just some cumin seeds. 

We finish our meal in just an hour, so order a couple more glasses of wine. We ask to take away the remaining couple of pieces of chicken and the vegetables, which they duly organise. The bill is £83 with the gratuity left open to be added on the machine. When the bill is finally printed I see I have managed to leave a 10p tip!  So sheepishly I leave a tenner as well!  

It's been a very enjoyable meal, and certainly worth another visit, though there are the others to try as well. There's also a Nepalese in a pub in the other direction, so we have plenty yet to explore.