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READER
REVIEW:
Palm
Beach Restaurant
17 Ealing Road
Wembley Tel : 020 8900 8664
By
Paul Motley |
After a
very hot day's shopping around the Indian sector of Wembley we
decided to find a restaurant before returning to Northampton.
Wembley should
be full of good authentic Indian restaurants and there was certainly
a selection of vegetarian places close to where we had spent 2 to 3
hours walking up and down the shops on what I think was probably the
hottest day of the year. I was quite looking forward to eating in one
of the Gujarat vegetarian restaurants but I was outvoted, the
strongest objections coming from my Kenyan-Asian companion, who said
he fancied a change from what he gets at home and my wife, who seems
to think its not a meal unless meat is present. Although not a
vegetarian I do like the change of the superbly flavoured vegetables
cooked the Gujarati way - but on this occasion it wasn't to be.
Finding a
non-vegetarian restaurant wasn't that easy, I'm sure there were
plenty about but we didn't know the area that well; time was getting
on so we opted for the nearest which was Sri Lankan. The place was of
old fashioned decoration - and not very well presented at that - but
we were hungry and we were there. We were presented with the menu
which had some curry house standard dishes but the idea was to try
something different. In a way it was like going back to my first
visit to an Indian restaurant, a new adventure, as I had to ask what
some of the dishes were. After a short debate between all four of us
we ordered two Ceylon mutton dishes, a butter chicken, a lamb masala,
coconut rice, Ceylon potatoes, a dried prawn sambal which had a
slightly different title (although I thought it would help my memory
by bringing the bill away, I seem to have dropped some liquid on it
erasing some of the items), chapatti's and a very different paratha
type bread containing a lot of egg.
The meal was
promptly served after about fifteen minutes, the Ceylon mutton was
nice and spicy, cooked in a thin gravy with the potato dish very
similar but a little hotter. The lamb masala was OK but the butter
chicken dish was very very bland and ordinary; in fact, a little like
a budget price ready meal for one from a cheap supermarket - (on
reflection I don't know why it was chosen, as it was never an unknown
or exciting item). The dried prawn sambol was a little different. I
was the one who opted for chapattis as the egg roti did not appeal to
me but I probably ate more of them than my friend who had chosen
them. They were extremely satisfying and I wish I could remember the
name of them and the toasted coconut rice was also a pleasure to eat.
On balance it
was a very ordinary meal in unexciting surroundings which could have
benefited from a facelift, which probably explains its lack of
patronage whilst other restaurants surrounding it were almost full
house. Next time we visit Wembley I will defiantly do some homework
to find the better non-vegetarian establishments in that area rather
than leave it to chance and would welcome any recommendations. |
