They say good things come to those who wait, and it took 20,000 workers and 22 years to complete the construction of the world-famous Taj Mahal. The reconstruction of the Raj Mahal in Frenchay didn’t quite take as long to complete but four years is a long time for a restaurant to be closed.
When Raj Rahmen opened the Raj Mahal on Frome Valley Road in 1992 there were queues coming out of the door. Twenty years later in 2012 - when the Bristol Post last reviewed the place- the foyer was packed and customers had branded it ‘the best Indian restaurant in the West’.
But after the nightmare experience of a renovation that went wrong followed by the pandemic, over the last few years, they’ve had to almost start from scratch in building up a customer base. However, Raj does recall a recent meeting with a six-foot man who he didn’t recognise but remembers Raj giving him chocolates when he was a child.
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“The old customers are starting to come back,” explains Raj whose grand restaurant has mostly empty tables on a weekday evening. He said that they tend to get a lot of group bookings at weekends and that the UWE Vice Chancellor likes to dine there from time to time.
Everything about the Raj Mahal is presentable; from the layout of the tables, to the staff, to the tasty dishes which are reasonably priced. We were attended to by the waiting staff who immediately made us feel at ease and came over to fill us up with additional Cobra beers when the moment arises.
The menu was pretty extensive with something for everyone. As a vegetarian, I was able to try a range of dishes and even had to take some home to eat the next day.
The paneer (grilled cheese) and the Bhaji , which I had to start with, were probably the best I have ever tried. I then had a chana masala and an okra dish which were both less spicy than I am used to but went down easily.
I ended up taking the dal home and it had more water than lentils and again was pretty mild but there were no complaints. I was told that the Lamb Tikka was also very tasty and not too dry.
All in all, it was a good experience and somewhere I would go back to again. At £3.90 for the vegetable sides, the prices were reasonable but there was also a range of seafood, Tandoori and Biryani dishes which start from around £10 per dish.
It definitely seems like an ideal place for a group booking and even has some English dishes on the menu, which helps if there are any fussy eaters. If you go there you will probably catch Raj himself who still spends a lot of the time at the restaurant, chatting to customers; old and new.
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