Description: The Indus is in the heart of Krakow just footsteps from the Rynek Glowny, the main market square. From the outside the restaurant isn't very eye-catching in spite of some twinkling lights and bright colours; there are lots of shops on the same street and the restaurant struggles to compete for attention. This is probably why, on a Sunday lunchtime, the restaurant was completely empty when we went in at a time when other places nearby seemed to be filling up. It's also at the end of the street furthest away from the square which might mean that people stop at other places before they get to the Indus.

Inside, the restaurant is quite small, more so than it looks from the photographs we had seen on their website (himself is in charge of research, you see). The walls are papered with striped paper in Dolly Mixture shades and the soft furnishings are similarly brightly coloured and give a slightly exotic (if down at heel) feel to the place.

There are only a few tables, including one raised one that I later wished we had bagged ourselves because it gave a good view of the street. (That table was subsequently taken by a Polish family, the grandmother of which at one point let out a tirade of venomous-sounding Polish that ended with the words "Pizza Hut!!!!" Make of that what you will.) Except for the table on the raised area, all of them are booth-style (my favourite table-style if truth be told).

There were no staff to be seen when we entered so we seated ourselves in a booth and waited. After a minute a young man came along with menus and took our drinks order. He spoke good, if heavily accented, English which I was glad of when I had to check that none of menu choices contained nuts.Our drinks arrived promptly, a beer for himself and a delicious mango lassi for me, that I think was home-made and not from a bottle.

The menu was fairly standard for an Indian restaurant with no real surprises but there was enough choice of dishes from across the "spiciness spectrum" and a good selection of veggie dishes too. Our curry critic chose the "paneer chilly masala" (sic) and I went for the lamb palak. A portion of pilau rice and a naan bread made up our order. We would have liked to sample the starters but we didn't want to be uncomfortable on the plane home. The food came promptly - as you would expect given that the place was so qiuet - and did not disappoint. We were pleased to find that the dishes had a good kick and weren't the insipid dishes one often gets in Indian restaurants in this part of the world. My palak dish was a fantastic green colour (from the spinach) and the pieces of lamb were a good size and beautifully tender. The paneer dish also contained a generous portion of Indian cheese and the sauce was delicious even if it was not quite so (chilli) hot as the palak dish and certainly should have been hotter than it.

Did the Indus pass the naan bread test? Wherever you go - even at different places in the UK - people produce naan bread that is very different; I usually find in central and eastern Europe that the naan bread is limp and flat, sometimes with toasted seeds scattered on the top, very different from the big, airy things we get in the UK. These ones were somewhere in the middle and were pretty tasty and not at all greasy as they can often be. The portion of rice was fine and sufficient for two people to share.

Althought we were left in peace to eat, we did find it no problem to attract the attention of the waiter to get extra drinks and even when the place got busier, we were still served promptly.

The only thing that lets the Indus down is the toilet and even then the drawbacks are limited. You see, to get to the toilet you have to collect a giant key fob and key from the bar, then go outside and across the alley way and into the very chilly (we were there in October so goodness knows what's like on a freezing December evening) toilets. There is only one toilet and while it was clean, it was very basic and cheerless. (I guess some people might find that an odd thing to say but it was very cold and sterile with a stone floor and stark white tiles)

I would recommend the Indus to anyone looking for decent, value for money Indian food in Krakow. It's in an easy to find central location, the staff are friendly and helpful and the food is nicely prepared and presented. The Indus won't win awards for originality in appearance or in its menu but as a basic Indian restaurant, some where to get a curry fix when away from home it does the job pretty well.

The bill came to exactly 100 PLN (approximately £22, including two mango lassi and two beers) abd while you can eat more cheaply in Krakow, it should be remembered that we were in the heart of the tourist area for which you'll always pay a premium.

Close