Description: Dilli Restaurant
60 Stamford New Road
Altrincham WA14 1EE
"Dilli - the restaurant that dared to serve authentic regional dishes from the heart of India."

When we were booked into the hotel in Altrincham we looked around for things to do and places we where could eat and my husband found this place which was only a twenty minutes walk from the hotel so no-one had to be nominated driver as we could walk there and enjoy a drink or two as well as the meal.


There was a bit of a mix up in our communication about booking the restaurant and as a result we hadn’t booked so when we walked passed on our way back from the train station we popped into ask if they could do a table for eight at eight o’ clock and we were told that was no trouble at all.


THE WEBSITE

Their website is very busy and at the present time there are snowmen falling down on the page which I find a bit distracting but seasonal I suppose. They boast that they were one of the first places to cook and serve authentic Indian food not the watered down version of Indian food that is cooked to appeal to English pallets.

It is a very comprehensive site with different pages for special offers, cookery classes, event catering and so on. We did print of a voucher for 20% off our bill which they happily honoured when we went along. We did tell them that we had the voucher when we booked though just in case.

If we lived closer I might well come and have a try at their cooking classes but I won’t be driving all that way I am afraid. They do sound good and I would love to learn to cook curry with an authentic Indian chef.

OPENING TIMES:

They are open every day, Lunch is 12.00 noon to 3pm and dinner is from 5.30pm to 11pm daily except Saturday when they close at 10pm. On Saturday and Sundays they offer a buffet but we didn’t have that so I can’t comment on the food quality in the buffet.


THE DÉCOR AND ATMOSPHERE

The place is nicely decorated with Indian pictures and artifacts on muted coffee coloured walls. There were sandalwood carved panels in places on the walls to break up the expanse of plain wall. The tables and chairs were all dark wood and heavy too when you tried to get out by pushing the chair back.

The tables were without cloths but had nice crisp white serviettes and heavy cutlery. The dishes were all white crockery but were various shapes and sizes depending on the food on the dish.


By the time we arrived at eight o’ clock it was pretty busy and it stayed that way until about 10.30 and we were the last to leave the restaurant as we were chatting away but at no time did we feel that we were being rushed out.

There was a slight problem with the bill as they charged us for one round of drinks twice but when we pointed that out they apologized and explained it was because two different members of staff had served us and both had written it down. They took a very generous 20% off the total bill so we were more than happy.

MENUS

There are several different menus on offer, the lunch one is different from the evening one. There is a take away menu, a party menu and at the moment there is also a Christmas menu. They offer different deals depending on the tomes too. There is a lunch menu for £11.95 and another for £14.95 so it is quite complicated and if you choose to go it might be an idea to suss it out on the website before you go to see what is on offer.


THE FOOD

As always when you have a large group it I hard to decide what to eat so we opted for the banquet meal for four twice and then we could share it all and try lots of different things.


We started with poppadoms and different sauces which we didn’t have to order they just came.

The menu is huge, the starters offered vary in price from £6 to £8, some vegetarian ones are around the £5 mark.

In our banquet we had about a few small bits each, My favourite was a lovely piece of chicken called ‘Chicken65’ which was a fried boneless chicken marinated with ginger, garlic, yoghurt and spices which is a speciality from state of Andhra in India. It was delicious. There was also a chicken wing and a lamb kebab and a tiny lamb chop as well as an onion bhajia from north India.

The main courses seemed to just keep coming, I really can’t remember them all as there seemed to be so many. I do remember we had a couple of different types of rice including a biryani and two type of naan including my favourite Peshawari naan which I love.

On the a la carte menu there was a section for Indian street food and these looked really tasty and they varied from £9 to £12 but sadly they were not on our banquet menu so that is my choice if we go again

My favourite main dish that we had was "Kozi Chettinad" which was a Madras Chicken curry with onion tomatoes and crushed pepper corn finished with lemon juice and fresh coriander which is a specialty of the Tamil Nadu region.. It was hot but very tasty.

Other said the Saag Gosht was delicious but I am not a great fan of lamb in curries so I didn’t try it which was lucky as everyone else loved it and there was nothing left in the end.

The dessert went down well the others but as kheer is my husband’s favourite and I was so full I donated mine to him. There was no choice on our menu for other more sickly sweet deserts or kulfi which are more to my taste sadly.


TOILETS
These were upstairs and through another dining area which I assume they use when busy and for private parties. The toilets were okay, nothing special but clean and worked. They were upstairs and I didn’t see any others for disabled use so once again I can’t comment on what was available for people with mobility issues.

WHAT DID WE THINK?

We found the service was very efficient, too efficient at times like when two waiters wrote down our round of drinks on the bill. They were all very pleasant and quite willing to repeat the dish name when we asked as they brought so many it was hard to remember what they all were and I like to know what I am eating.

They were very patient with us when we were the last to leave. The waiters and family were eating their food at the table near the kitchen while we were still finishing off our food. We were a bit held up as we were told there was a dessert and nothing came for a while and it was only when we asked that they brought the dessert so it was partly their fault.

Anyway they took off the 20% discount plus some so we were happy. I would thoroughly recommend the food as it was freshly cooked in the kitchens that we could see from our table and that is always a good sign. So, yes if you are in this area or live nearby and you like good curry then head on down to Dilli.

Thanks for reading. This review may be posted on other sites under my same user name.

©Catsholiday
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