Reading Gay parade

Snapshots from Reading Gay parade. Pics credit: Suruchi Sharma Diwan

House of Flavours - review. One of the best Indian restaurant in Reading

Indian Restaurant & Bar, House of Flavours, Kings Road, Reading

Reading in Berkshire, UK has a lot of amazing eateries and undoubtedly the place houses some of the best Indian restaurants. Having tried almost all of them in the past one year, I have to say that House of Flavours on Kings Road tops my list of amazing Indian restaurant offering good quality food and excellent ambience coupled with good service.

I had the good fortune of meeting the owners - Mr Chander and Mr Gurpreet - when they had just opened the doors to their new restaurant in September, for menu tasting. Since then, I have to say, I have been very impressed with their hospitality and kind personal attention, every time that I have visited the restaurant with my family or with my friends. From suggesting Today's Specials to personally looking after their guests, the owners do a commendable job of making each and every person present in their restaurant feel at home.

Why the review now? Well, I went to have dinner at the restaurant again some time back, to use the offer that was being advertised on Facebook - 25% off on food bill. And I have been raving about the newly updated menu so much that my friends asked me to write a review about the same on my blog. So, here it is:

The interesting décor

When we reached the restaurant at around 8.30pm, it was unusually packed for a Tuesday night, but we were seated in a comfortable spot and were seen by an attendant right away. To start off, I ordered Sweet Kewra Lassi (£2.99) while my husband ordered a Johhnie Walker Black Lable (£5.58). The drinks were served immediately along with poppadoms that came with a selection of spiced onions, mango chutney (the yummiest ever!!) and mint sauce (99p per person) as we pondered over the vast menu to decide what to order for mains.

Yummy Kewra Lassi

Finally I decided on ordering Nargisi Subz Kebab as starter and Paneer Taka Tak with butter naan for myself, while my husband opted for a spicy Chicken Jalfrezi with tandoori roti as a main with Lasooni Chicken Tikka as starter.

Nargisi Subz Kebab

Though the starters took some time to arrive on our table, it was worth the wait. Being a vegetarian, I rarely find good starters in Indian restaurants - in fact all I can find in name of starters is paneer - paneer tikka, paneer pakoda or paneer patty. Nargisi Subz Kebab was a delight. And going by the satisfaction on my husband's face, I can say that he too enjoyed his Lasooni Chicken Tikka.

Lasooni Chicken Tikka

Our main course announced its arrival, way before it landed on our table. Such sizzling noise it made, popping away on the skillet, that few even turned to see what was coming on our table. Since all their dishes are made to order, I asked for less spicy while my husband went the whole hog in asking them to make the spiciest Jalfrezi ever. What can I say, we both have different taste when it comes to food, and the restaurant did their best to serve us food according to our liking.

(From top to bottom) Paneer Taka Tak, Chiken Jalfrezi and butter naan

The butter naan was just perfect - perfectly layered, buttery, chewy and soft. I couldn't have asked for more. After all this, there was absolutely no place for desserts, but I would highly recommend their Gulab Jamuns. They are the bestest that you will find in Reading.

With such an awesome gourmet delight, an added 25% off on our food bill was like a cherry on top. And just as we got up to leave, I looked at my husband and said, "We are definitely coming here again." He gave me a big smile.



Two course with Beer/ Wine/ Drink - £13.99
Three course with Beer/ Wine/ Drink - £15.99

http://house-of-flavours.com/
https://www.facebook.com/HOFReading

p.s: Don't go by their online menu. I think they haven't updated it yet. They've added a lot more dishes to their menu now.

London surprises me

 

Reading - straight out of a storybook. Pic credit: Lawrence via flickr 

I love living in Reading. It is so much better than living in a city like London. Unlike London, here you can actually move about in your car without worrying about the traffic, go for long, leisure walks and enjoy the views by the side of Thames River. The whole countryside feel of the place is just amazing and I wouldn’t want to trade places with any city girl. Life here is just beautiful.

I am new to UK, not even a year old. Though I keep travelling (not for work, I’m just footloose) I honestly dread going to London. Don’t get me wrong. London is nice, but not just my kinda nice. Also I think I’m jinxed when it comes to travelling by train. Every time that I’ve taken a train from Reading to Paddington, either I’ve stepped in the wrong train, or the trains have been delayed. In short, my experience hasn’t been good. (I am to be blamed partly for it, I know) 



Busy, bustling London. Pic credit: Dough Wheeler via flickr

 But there’s one thing that I have to applaud London for and that is - there is constantly something unique or interesting happening if not unique or interesting, there is always something happening (You agree, don’t you). One can always find some or other interesting person showcasing his or her talent either at the stations, underground or even in narrow streets. Though London is too rushed for my liking, but it feels nice to see people stopping by to appreciate their talent.

One such talent I spotted during my visit to London recently. Though I don’t know the name of the guy, he was an awesome drummer. I was so impressed by his skills that I gave him a £10 note (that’s a lot of money for a jobless person like me). The way he interacted with the crowd, the way he made music from old buckets and steel plates, I was like… impressed. Many of you might not agree with me, but then its okay, I think this guy is pretty talented and I wanted to share this video with everyone. His music made me happy, might work for you too :)

Check it out here. (For some reason blogger was showing an error while uploading the video so I had to link it on google +. If anyone knows how to fix this then please do let me know. I'll be highly grateful.

Sorry about the poor quality of the video. I wasn’t carrying my camera. This was shot on my humble Blackberry Bold.