Rajmoni, Brentwood, Essex UK
Having not had a good old British curry for ages, I carefully read reviews of Indian
restaurants local to Brentwood and plumped for Rajmoni in Warley Hill. It seemed to be a local favourite.
We were made very welcome and the restaurant was moderately busy for a Monday night. The first thing that made me go ‘ooh’ was the chutney tray. Chutney trays are a rarity in Perth and this made me very nostalgic with its quartet of mango chutney, tomato chutney, mint sauce and onion salad. Perfect with pappadoms.
I also had a Cobra Beer – such a nice refreshing accompaniment to a curry.
I chose King Prawn dhansak – which had just the right amount of sweetness, a hint of
lemon sourness, enough lentils to add texture (I really object to dhansaks with just a runny sauce containing a few lentils), and chilli heat. The key to getting the heat correct is to cook all of the spices thoroughly so that they don’t taste raw, and hot curries often benefit from a day in the fridge to mellow the spices. If a curry is gauged correctly it can still be quite hot but comfortably edible, and Rajmoni managed to get the combination just right.
My companion chose chicken madras which was tasty and nicely spiced. It was also nice to have two curries with very different sauces – with Indian restaurant batch cooking, you can sometimes find that all of the curries end up with the same sauce.
I asked for Aloo Peas (peas and potato) which wasn’t on the menu, but the staff were happy to prepare it for me. Again a delicious side dish, nicely prepared. (Indian side dishes are a rarity in Australia, so again this is something which I miss about UK curries).
Rajmoni have several vegetable and vegan side dishes available as well as veg stuffed naans and parathas – two or three of these dishes would make a great vegetarian meal.
Accompaniments were a keema naan (naan stuffed with minced lamb) and fluffy pilau
rice.
What a nice meal, my UK curry fix was complete and it was everything that I wanted it to
be. I would definitely recommend Rajmoni and will be revisiting next time I am in the UK.
Visit Date – May 2014
Truly Scrumptious 
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