Bollywood Indian Restaurant

Osborne Road in Southsea is known locally as Restaurant Row, yet I have only been to two or three of these eateries. Early one Saturday evening my son and I wandered along, looking at various menus. He insisted I make the final decision, and I picked Bollywood. Its exterior isn't at all appealing, but the menu looked interesting and a review from the local paper in the window showed that it was deemed worthy of four stars for food.

We went in and found that apart from one group of half a dozen or so people, the restaurant was empty. We were shown to a table for four further back, as there didn't seem to be any tables for two. I appreciated the fact that the young waiter didn't hand me the menu until I had taken off my coat and sat down.

While we were studying the menu, the waiter came to ask if we would like any poppadoms. We ordered three as well as a fruit juice each. The poppadoms were served with generous portions of onions, minted yoghurt, mango chutney and another kind of chutney that I was unable to identify. The fruit juice came without ice, but I personally prefer it that way.

Bollywood's menu is an extensive one offering the usual varieties of curry such as dansak, korma, korai, biriani, rogan josh, jalfrezi, vindaloo and so on. There are several fish curries, but other than prawn the type of fish is not specified. Several vegetarian options are available. For just under £11 you can have a starter (choice of two), any main dish other than king prawns, a side dish and rice. Bangladeshi dishes are listed on a separate page. For those who aren't keen on curry but are perhaps part of a group who are, there are steaks and omelettes to choose from. I enquired as to what exactly the Bollywood special biriani consisted of, but the mixture of lamb, chicken and prawn with omelette sounded like a strange combination. I decided on duck dansak, which is served with pilau rice. My son was sufficiently intrigued to order the chicken makhonwala dish – the meat is cut into long strips and marinated before being cooked with spices. It is served in a sauce with fresh cream and nuts, topped with tomato. We decided that we would share my pilau rice and also ordered a peshwari naan bread to share.

After we had finished our poppadoms, a hot plate was brought for the dansak and makhonwala, which were served in white oval porcelain dishes. The makhonwala certainly looked unusual and appetising. I tried a little of the sauce with some naan bread; it was delicious and quite mild. My son was definitely impressed by his choice. My dansak was a very good, medium hot sauce, but one or two pieces of the duck were less than tender. Other than that I enjoyed it. The pilau rice and peshwari naan were both more than satisfactory.

The waiting staff did not hurry to clear our plates after we had finished. We decided against dessert and asked for the bill. It came to £24.50 to which we added a tip as the service had been polite and efficient. The waiters were all very young and looked as though they hadn't been cutting back on rice and naan bread.

Bollywood is comfortable but not particularly stylish. There is no shortage of cinema posters alongside one or two modest works of art, but the décor on the whole seems a little tired and uninspiring. Bollywood music is of course playing non-stop, thankfully not so loud as to interfere with conversation.

Before leaving I visited the ladies which is on the ground floor. Again, it was not sumptuously decorated but clean enough and well supplied with soap, paper towels and toilet tissue. It might just about be accessible by someone in a wheelchair, but the corridors are quite narrow.

When we left, one of the waiters held the door open for us as he thanked us and said goodbye. It's not a foregone conclusion that that will happen.

Apart from one or two pieces of duck being rather tough, we felt that the food at Bollywood was excellent. There are three Indian restaurants on Osborne Road, the other two being Spice Merchants and the Jewel in the Crown. I have yet to visit the Jewel in the Crown, but my son was adamant that Bollywood's cuisine is superior. He felt, however, that Spice Merchants is the best of the three as it scores highly for both cuisine and stylish surroundings. Service is very good at both restaurants.

When we left at around 7.30pm Bollywood was empty, but the night was still young. I wouldn't recommend the duck, but the makhonwala is an unusual dish to find on a menu and I would be very tempted to try it one day. If you like good Indian food at reasonable prices and can't get enough of Bollywood music, this is a restaurant worth visiting. It is just a stone's throw from Southsea common and Palmerston Road shopping precinct. You might be lucky enough to find a parking spot on Osborne Road itself.

36 Osborne Road

Southsea

PO5 3LT

Tel. 023 9275 4888

The Brasserie No. 8 Kings Road

I had long wanted to visit the Brasserie No. 8 King's Road in Southsea, having been fascinated by the sight of the huge chandeliers inside this Grade II listed building that had formerly housed a bank. The opportunity finally came one Saturday evening in early March. I hadn't celebrated my birthday in January because of the snow and a sprained wrist, and my sister-in-law had her birthday coming up the following week, so we decided a family dinner was in order.

On the previous Monday I rang Brasserie No. 8 to reserve a table for five at 7.30pm on the Saturday. We were advised to arrive promptly as they had thirty guests coming at 8pm and wanted to be able to take our order before that. I was the last of the family to arrive and I was escorted to the upper level by the gentleman who checked my reservation. The upper level is actually like a balcony from which you can look down on the ground floor and also admire the two chandeliers that are quite stunning. As you enter the restaurant there is a bar to the left and two beautiful floral arrangements, one of which I still had a good view of from upstairs. At the far end stands a grand piano, and I understand there is often entertainment on a Friday evening.

We had a table at the end of the balcony and were lucky that the smaller table next to us remained unoccupied throughout the evening. The tables have a marble effect and there is a reddish-purple runner along the middle that matches the colour of the walls. Cutlery is stylishly tucked into a fold in the linen napkins, and red candles are held in tall, slender glass candlesticks. As I was the last to arrive, menus had already been brought to our table. The waitress soon came to ask if we would like olives, bread and tapenade while we studied the menu, and she brought three servings of these(£2.75 each). My brother was in a hurry for a gin and tonic (£4.10 altogether) but I decided to stick with orange juice (£1.50). My sister-in-law, my son and his partner ordered a bottle of Australian Shiraz to share (£14.75).

I didn't want to spoil my appetite with the olives and bread, but my sister-in-law persuaded me to try the tapenade, which was pureed red peppers with slices of garlic. It was certainly very good. We decided not to order from the full starter menu which included beetroot and goat's cheese tart with mixed leaves and hazelnut dressing (£5.95) or pan-fried scallops with black pudding and raisin caper gribiche (£7.95). Out of a total of seven choices, three were vegetarian.

We began to look at the main courses, of which there were again just seven. My son and I both chose corn fed guinea fowl chorizo and pistachio ballentine served with sweet potato dauphinoise (£16.95) after listening to the waitress's description of the dish. My sister-in-law order the grilled fillet of beef with creamed wild mushrooms, sweet potato fondant and madeira sauce (£18.95) with a side order of creamed leaf spinach (£2.95). My brother and my son's partner both decided on duck breast accompanied by braised cabbage, prune and apple compote and Calvados sauce (£18.95) with a side order of creamed potatoes (£2.95). Lamb and brill were also on the menu, but there was only one vegetarian option – spiced feta samosas with roasted vegetables (£13.95).

It wasn't too long a wait before the main courses were served. The guinea fowl chorizo was beautifully presented, with two thick diagonal slices standing on end on a bed of spinach alongside a square of sweet potato dauphinoise. The meat was very tender and the pistachio filling added an interesting texture and flavour. I'm not usually a great fan of sweet potato, but I loved it in the dauphinoise form. The dish was finished off with a sauce which I think may have been madeira.

The beef and duck were equally well appreciated, and when we had finished the waitress commented on how clean our plates were. Such food is far too good to waste.

We sometimes find that restaurants serve the main course promptly and then tend to forget that their customers perhaps can't wait hours before ordering desserts. At No. 8, however, the waitress brought dessert menus not long after we had finished the main course. All desserts, including cheese, are £5.95. My sister-in-law and I both picked the pineapple tarte tatin with cardamon yoghurt ice-cream. My brother and my son both ordered cherry bakewell tart with kirsch and almond ice-cream. My son's partner decided he still had room for steamed chocolate fudge pudding with blood orange jelly and white chocolate ice-cream. Vanilla panacotta is also on the menu. At this point my brother also ordered a Budweiser (£3).

The tarte tatin was not the most impressive one to look at, but it was not lacking in taste or appetising smell. The pastry base was sweet and the pineapple fruity of course, but the cardamon ice cream had a fragrance and was not sugary. A perfect balance of flavours. The cherry bakewell tart looked amazing, served with a crescent-shaped wafer that curled up in the air from under the ice cream. My son's partner found the chocolate pudding very filling, but he did enjoy it. The jelly came in a slender glass with the ice-cream resting on top.

No. 8 offers a range of coffees and teas as well as hot chocolate, but none of us felt the need to order a hot drink.

Our bill came to £160.95 to which a 12.5% service charge of £20.12 was added, making a total of £181.07. Friday and Saturday evenings are the most expensive times to dine at No. 8, as there is no set menu offers on either of those evenings.

Brasserie No. 8 may seem to be in a slightly isolated location, but it is in fact in walking distance of Southsea's Palmerston Road shopping precinct, Southsea common, Gunwharf Quays and Portsmouth and Southsea station. It is barely two minutes from Portsmouth City Museum and the university is very close at hand. We all live in walking distance of the restaurant, so I can't give information about parking. Bus services 1 and 40 run along Kings Road, while the 5 and the 23 stop close by.

The restaurant is open every day for lunch from 12 noon until 3pm (Sundays until 5pm). It is open in the evenings every day except Sunday from 6.30pm until 9.30pm. (The bar closes at midnight.) A two-course set menu is available at lunchtime for £9.50 per head. Otherwise prices for lunch main courses range from £5.95 for a classic club sandwich to £12.95 for grilled sirloin steak. For Sunday lunch there is a different menu including three choices of roast as well as sea bass or pumpkin risotto cakes. From Monday to Thursday you can 'dine with wine' from a set menu in the evening; two courses are £17.95 a head, whereas three courses are £21.95.

There is a ramp over the two steps up to the front door and toilets are situated on the ground floor, so disabled access is not a problem.

Although some people would be unhappy about the addition of the service charge to the bill and others not satisfied by the limited vegetarian options, I feel I have to award five stars to Brasserie No. 8. The five of us all agreed that it was definitely the best culinary experience we have had in either Portsmouth or Southsea. We also felt that the setting itself and the design of the interior were unique and very special. The service was hard to fault, and other than one sticky menu cover the standard of cleanliness was extremely high. I hope I will be able to return to No. 8 King's Road, although I would be happy to go for the set menu on a weekday evening or for lunch. I heartily recommend this restaurant to anyone visiting Southsea or Gunwharf Quays as an alternative to local chain restaurants.

The Brasserie 8 Kings Road

Southsea

PO5 3AH

Tel. 023 9285 1698

email: info@brasserie8kingsroad.co.uk

www.brasserie8kingsroad.co.uk