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Five months ago a new restaurant opened its doors to the people of
affluent Cobham in Surrey and already they seem to have taken the
smart new establishment to their hearts.
Massala is uniquely owned and run by two celebrated Chefs. Sunil
Sinha is a young and highly talented chef whose cooking has been
acknowledged as superb. He especially enjoys cooking seafood dishes
such as whole tandoori lobster and whole sea bass.
Chef Pradeep Asawa is renowned for having cooked for HRH Prince
Charles and the late Princess Diana on their State tour of India in
1992, and the late Rajiv Gandhi, Prime Minister of India.
The restaurant is situated just off the main road to Fetcham with its
own parking. The smart frontage, which can be opened up during
summer, reveals a pleasant interior with wekll-spaced tables and
comfortable leather-style seats. As we took our seats we were
immediately attended by the black uniformed staff and offered menus
and a wine list.
The menu offers plenty of choice but is not of the extensive style of
many curry houses and immediately shows Massala to be somewhat
different from the norm. Having settled on the house wine - a Bianco
Puglio 2008 - we chose Tandoori Paneer, Methi Machchi and a Chef
Asawa speciality, Butterfly Prawns, for starters. The paneer, layered
with chutney and mint was exceptional and the salmon, mouthwatering.
The prawns were fiery and exciting and accompanied by Aloo Tikki with
tamarind, mint and yoghurt.
For main course we went for Chicken Lahbabdar with its aromatic
fenugreek overtones and an excellent Roast Lamb Laziz with thin,
layered lamb that could easily be cut with the edge of a fork. Sukhi
Meloni Subzi provided the support garlic naan and Lachcha Paratha.
To already to be settled into such a high standard of cuisine after
just a few months of opening says a lot for the quality of the
cooking and listening to the positive comments of diners seated
around us, we were not the only ones who would be happy to enjoy the
Massala experience again.
Massala, 19 Anyards Road, Cobham, Surrey KT11 1LW Tel : 01932 865005 |
