Bharat offers a wide range of authentic dishes

Hot Tandoori is booming

I have been coming to this restaurant since it opened in 1987. Mia and his colleagues are friendly and their food is consistently good.
Bharat offer what we have come to know as the typical Indian Tandoori food where their long list of curries makes it possible to ask for whatever degree of spice you would like to have.
We now know the familiar different styles such as Pathia is cooked with onions, tomatoes, sliced green  peppers, spices in a sweet and sour hot sauce; Biryani dishes are meat or shellfish mixed with pilau rice; Dhansak is cooked with lentils and Tandoori is marinated in yoghurt, herbs and spices and barbecued in Tandoor (clay oven).
The restaurant is small sitting about 40 people with a bar in the front and two designated tables next to the window for people waiting for their take away.
Judging by the action that evening, they have a booming business: Complimentary bottle of house wine with orders over £30 or one side dish for orders over £15.
If you collect instead of having a free home delivery, you get a 10 per cent discount for orders over £10.
Their lunch buffet is excellent value for money. Priced at £6.95 and available from Monday to Friday from noon to 2.30pm.
You can eat as much as you like and choose from a variety of over 18 dishes. They also have a buffet on Sundays at £7.95.
On arrival I usually order a couple of papadums (one plain and the other spicy) served with four different types of dip: mango chutney, mint sauce, onion salad and mixed pickles. Then straight to the main course which we shared: Half of Chicken Tikka (grilled diced chicken £5.90 – This dish is the plain version of the Tikka Masala where the chicken is barbecued and flavoured with spices).
It is served on sliced onions and a lemon wedge; Chicken Jalfrezi (£5.95) cooked in fresh herbs and green chillies. Very hot.
To accompany the chicken we had Aloo Gobi (£2.50 potatoes and cauliflower cooked in medium spices), Chana Masala (£2.50 Chick peas cooked in butter, onions and ginger); Sag Bhaji (£2.50 Spinach fried in butter, onions and herbs); a Chapati (£1.25 Thin Indian bread) and a bottle of the popular Mateus Rose (£9.95).
As always with Indian cuisine the larger the party the more dishes you can try and so I was delighted to watch a group of Americans enjoying the many dishes they had ordered.
The group were happy with their food. Lots of compliments which coming from restaurant owners mean a lot. Casey Stanislaw and his wife Ann own YO Ranch Steakhouse in Dallas and they passed on an invitation for our readers to visit them in Texas.