Farhana

You get a choice of menu at the Farhana. When we visited in March 2010, You could either go for their simple "eat as much as you like" menu which cost £8.95 per person or you could go for the more elaborate "a la carte".

On the simple menu, you could order as many dishes as you like. There was a choice of about half a dozen starters, maybe 12 mains, plus various veggie side dishes, nans and rice. 2 of us went for this cheaper option and were very happy with both the quality and quantitiy.

We restricted ourseves to a starter apiece, which we shared. I had a lamb bhuna and my friend had chicken jalfrezi. Again we shared both the mains and the accompanying pillau rice and garlic nan. To go with this we ordered "Bombay potato" (or should that now be "Mumbai potato," plus some channa masala. No complaints about any of it. Very nice.

The 3rd member of our party was a vegetarian. He ordered from the a la carte menu and had 3 veggie side dishes (which were not on the cheaper menu). To go with this he had some lemon rice.

Food arrived promptly and while we were waiting we had a brief chat with the owner - a very pleasant guy.

The total bill, excluding drinks, cos you can bring your own, came to just £26.15.

You are not allowed to take any food away in doggie bags if you order from the "eat all you like" menu, which I guess is fair enough (not that we left any food anyway).

Our veggie friend however did not manage all he ordered from the a la carte and they quite happily placed what remained in some take away containers for him (No doubt he ate it for breakfast the next day !).

This is about our 5th or 6th trip to the Farhana. It seems to get better and cheaper every time. I have no idea why it is not packed to the rafters with diners. I guess there is just too much competition locally. I reclon there are perhaps 20 restaurants within a half mile radius of the Farhana.

The Farhana offers a great variety of quality Indian food at rock bottom prices. I would say that it appeals more to the English than Asian taste in curry. There are lots of extremely tasty, rich, thick sauces and plenty of dishes which will be familiar to English restaurant goers.

Portion sizes are generous and all the food is prepared fresh for you while you wait. You can order either a la carte or go for their cheap fixed price menu - There is also an all you can eat buffet on a Sunday.

Pricewise - I reckon you would be hard pushed to eat £12.00 worth of food there. Believe me, I have tried. There is always enough left for a doggy bag for lunch the next day.

The restaurant only opens in the evenings and is unlicenced - You can however bring your own beer or wine from the Turkish mini-market a few doors away. There is no corkage charge.

Service is very good and the owner always comes over for a brief friendly chat.

Generally, I would say that there is no need to book but I have seen it completely full a few times recently. So better to be safe than sorry - It might not be the most up-market looking restaurant in the area but people seem finally to be cottoning on to what a bargain the Farhana really is !