My Food Place of the Week: Rajdoot

Situated on the outskirts of Jewellery Quarter is this longstanding indian restaurant, Rajdoot.

I am very picky about the Indian food that I eat because I believe my mother makes the best and most places cannot compare to hers. So, the standard is set pretty high and this is why I am very selective about the Indian food places I go to. This made me very curious about Rajdoot and I couldn't wait to see how it compared.

Back to the Rajdoot, from the outside, the place is very good looking and is alot bigger then it looks. There is even a function room with it's own entrance.

Can you spot the loony in the window?!

The decor was beautiful, very elegant, timeless and fitting to the cuisine.

I was invited to Rajdoot, to try out their lunch menu (details in the above picture). At £10.95, it sounds reasonable and majorly satisfying.

There are two areas to the restaurant. The first is the lounge area, shown in the below picture, and is the area where you are seated when you arrive, where you can order drinks and your meal. Once the main meal is ready, the waiters take you over to the second area; and this is the main dining area.

As I was seated in the main dining area, there was poppadoms and chutneys on the table.

I asked for a half and half starter, which was the Aloo Tikki and Chicken Shashlik. The Aloo Tikki was well seasoned, a tad flatter then I am used to but nicely crispy. The Chicken Shashlik was not bad but not amazing either. It was a little hard and not as soft as I am used to; normally it would melt in your mouth but it was a tasty marinade on it. I wish there hadn't been ketchup on the dish, it told me that this food is not authentic and their clientele is not normally Asian. Also the salad on the dish was fresh and the barbequed vegetables were delicious.

For my main, I decided to go for the King Prawn Masala.

As you can see, the portion was HUGE! The curry was accompanied by yellow rice, vegetable and naan. There is alot and the plate and needless to say, I could not finish it. I felt it was way too big for a lunchtime portion. The King Prawn masala was so so but the vegetables were ten times better. The seasoning and masala in the whole dish was very tasty and well done but that x factor was missing for me and I felt it was ok. The naan was lovely but again, nothing special.

The dessert list was vast and I decided to go with Gulab Jaman, as it was the only dairy free one I could have. It tasted like it had been shop brought and just warmed up for me.

I really liked the decor, location and staff in this restaurant but felt the food was lacking that added zing that would make you keep going back. I feel as if they cater to people who do not come from Asian backgrounds and I think that is something they need to think about changing. Tone down the portions, tweak your masala and menu, then you would definitely be onto a winner.

Food - 3/5

Could have been better but there was definitely elements that were tasty.

Food appropriate for Lactose Intolerance Suffers - 5/5

The lunchtime menu did have options for me.

Service - 5/5

Staff were friendly, attentive and accommodating. Cannot fault them.

Cleanliness - 5/5

Beautiful decor that is immaculate

Location - 5/5

A little out of the way from the City Centre and a place you would have to know about to go there. 

Value for Money - 3/5

Prices very good for the portions.

Thank you to Delicious PR for the opportunity to review this restaurant.