4 Innperlenburg - 3 years ago
Have to say that we visited the Maharani because we discovered that the Royal Tandoori (our old favourite) had closed down, and we wanted to find another good Indian restaurant where the cook doesn't cater for German/European taste, but offers something closer to authentic Indian food. When we arrived, there was an Indian family sitting in the dining room - a good sign. Another Indian family showed up later. The ambiance is great - the seating arrangement is comfortable, the decor creative and tasteful, and the lady who served us was friendly, attentive and not hovering. Our food arrived quite quickly and nothing was forgotten.
The food is good and relatively authentic. We asked for our meal to be well spiced, and it was, including a great trio of sauces. We liked the touch of covering a pot with a naan which one had to break open to get at the contents. The food is kept hot on copper food warmers and the cutlery is rustic copper and steel. Delicious Lassis, homemade samosas, tender lamb, perfectly cooked basmati with just the right touch of golden turmeric, and excellent naan bread.
On the downside, the fish which is offered is pangasius, which is a cheap, tasteless catfish variety, full of polyphosphates, and which has received a very bad press in Europe, for good reason. It can be easily smothered in a spicy sauce and one would hardly know what one was eating.
In another dish, which included chicken and turkey, the poultry seemed somewhat processed in consistency. Perhaps costs have to be kept down.
The bill was reasonable, we felt.
We would have given a 5 had the menu been just a little more varied, (for example, it would have been nice to see parathas and chapatis on offer) but these days one has almost too much choice, and what we ordered was good. Perhaps the menu is regional and therefore omits other types of food we have eaten elsewhere. Whatever - we will probably come again.
