We visited this restaurant two years ago, and then we reported: "[The Royal Balti] is a cracking curry house. Let's just hope that this isn't the initial flash in the pan quality of some newly-opened restaurants, and that the Royal can maintain this level of fare."

A year ago we wrote: "We returned last week to give the place a second go - and we're happy to say that the quality of the curries on offer, as well as the prices, is the same."

The Royal was a four star restaurant, in our estimation - but on Friday's showing the standard has dropped appreciably.
We started with vegetable samosas (£1.20), onion bhaji (£1.20), mushroom bhaji (£1.20), and veg pakora (£1.00). With the exception of the samosas, which we felt lacked filling (though the pastry was crisp and fresh) the starters were excellent. The mushroom bhajis consisted of whole button mushrooms in a hot crunchy batter, and were among the best we've sampled recently. Likewise the onion bhajis and veg pakora rated highly: both fresh and tartly spiced. Recommended.

Would that we could say the same for the main dishes.

I had dall and mushroom, and it was a vast disappointment. In the past, the dall dishes were very good here, but this one was poor. Bland beyond description, this curry contained hardly any lentils, and scant mushrooms, in an insipid slurry of sauce. Likewise the vegetable biryani was vapid - "bland and lacking identity" was the verdict. The dall spinach, as served, tasted of nothing. We sent it back, saying that we wanted it spiced up a little. It duly arrived and was far better, though again the portion of dall was minuscule. The meat makhan was described as "Too oily, and though the meat portions were small, the flavour was fine. All in all, just above average."

We thought the fare on offer at the Royal Balti this time round was well down on the fine meals we've sampled here in the past, and we were sorely disappointed. Let's hope that this is merely a blip in quality - we'll be back to check before long.

(All dishes come with a choice of rice or three chapattis. 15% Student Discount.)

We first visited the Royal Balti in December last year. Then we described it as "a new restaurant situated where the famous (or infamous) Hansa's Gujerati Vegetarian restaurant once served its dire fare. The Royal, we're pleased to report, is a cracking curry house." We went on, "Let's just hope that this isn't the initial flash in the pan quality of some newly-opened restaurants, and that the Royal can maintain this level of fare. We'll be back to check it out before long."

We returned last week to give the place a second go - and we're happy to say that the quality of the curries on offer, as well as the prices, is the same.

We started with chicken pakora (£2.00), vegetable pakora (£1.00), and onion bhaji (£1.20). The chicken pakora was a good portion of succulent chicken in an excellent crispy batter - the meat-eaters were well satisfied, while us veggies enjoyed the very good vegetable pakora and good onion bhaji.

I had an aloo ghobi side dish made as a main dish. While the cauliflower was a trifle overcooked, this was compensated for by the overall quality of the dish, a rich medium-strength, oily masala which earned high marks. Likewise the dall saag was enjoyed, a good portion of spinach though with fewer lentils than there might have been. The chicken tikka dhansak was, in JonF's estimation, a brilliant curry; a good sized portion with an above-average amount of chicken in an excellent sauce: not too hot and yet full with flavour. The chicken balti was a little bland and perhaps too oily.

We finished off with some truly dreadful coffee at 60p per cup - but don't let that put you off sampling the very good Asian food on offer at the Royal. Recommended.

The Royal does not have a drinks licence.

The Royal Balti is a new restaurant situated where the famous (or infamous) Hansa's Gujerati Vegetarian restaurant once served its dire fare. The royal, we're pleased to report, is a cracking curry house.

We started with chicken pakora (£2.00), vegetable pakora (£1.00), and onion bhaji (£1.20). The chicken pakora was very good, with fair sized pieces of meat in a tasty batter; the onion bhajis, of the flat variety, were also well above average, nicely spiced and well-cooked. The veg pakora were excellent, with the taste of the individual vegetables not masked (as in the case with some pakoras) by the spices.

Good starters... were we to be sadly disappointed with the main courses?

Thankfully not. It's not often I rave over a dish, but rave I must over the exceptional dall saag. To begin with, the portion was very generous. The quality of ingredients, tasty spinach and fine dall cooked to perfection, and perfect combination of spices, made for the finest dall saag I've had in over fifteen years of curry eating. Highly recommended. The chicken dhansak was also enjoyed. The aloo chana scored well, too, the chick peas cooked to perfection in a rich, flavoursome sauce. The chicken rogan josh was filling, but not outstanding.

Overall, we were impressed with the Royal Balti. They do not serve sweets, which is a minus, and the coffee was not up to much - but this did nothing to spoil a very good curry experience. Let's just hope that this isn't the initial flash in the pan quality of some newly-opened restaurants, and that the Royal can maintain this level of fare. We'll be back to check it out before long.

The Royal does not have a drinks licence.