Panahar Indian Restaurant, Moorland Road, Bath

A favourite among students and locals in the south of Bath, Panahar Indian Cuisine is a takeaway and restaurant that offers unique, no nonsense and freshly prepared curry dishes at affordable prices. The fact that it is a Bring Your Own Drink establishment makes it even more appealing.

Panahar – Bring Cash and Bring Your Own Drinks (BYOD)

First opened in 1992, Panahar Indian Cuisine is located on the busy high street that is Moorland Road in Bath. It is a family run business that offers Indian, balti, tandoori, Bangladeshi, and vegetarian dishes. Around dinner time, there is usually plenty of parking spaces on the street itself or in one of the lanes off the road. You won’t have any problem finding a spot. Just be sure to not turn into a one way street. We were fortunate to find a parking spot on the road itself further down from Panahar.

You might also want to bring some cash as they do not always accept card payments. The other thing to note is that this is a BYOD (Bring Your Own Drink) establishment but don’t worry if you turned up unprepared. Order your food and send one of your mates to the local store. Sainsbury’s Local is in the next block and is well stocked with beers, wine, larger etc. The store even has a cash machine so you won’t have any problem paying for your meals later. This is one of the appeals of Panahar, helping you save on drinks by bringing / buying your own elsewhere and not charging corkage.

How was the food

Presentation is not Panahar’s forte but the food tasted good nonetheless. Once seated, we were asked if we wanted papadums to start. These came with a choice of four condiments. They were mango chutney, mint yoghurt sauce, lime pickle and chopped white onion with herbs. Our orders were then taken, and for the number of starters, mains, sides and sundries (assorted naan bread and rice) we ordered, it was surprising that they only made one mistake.

It took a while for our food to arrive, granted that we are a big party and many different dishes but they did arrive altogether so we started promptly. Some of the starters we ordered are Samosas, Chicken Tikka, King Prawn Zinger Kebabs and Sheek Kebab. For mains, I tried the Lamb Ceylon, prepared in tomato base curry with coconut while my friend had Madras Chicken with extra portion of Chicken Tikka. I also ordered Keema Rice, rice cooked with traditional Indian spice and minced lamb.

What about the service

The service was great. There were plenty of staff at hand to take our order and deliver them to the table when on time. They were ever so friendly and happy to help with anything. There were some complains about their dated decor but they have since put in some effort by updating the lighting and introducing a water feature with changing lights albeit sealed.

Starters

Apart from the samosas, every starter had fried onion strewed on top of them. These could have been made to look better with a bed of fried onion on the plate topped it with the meat of our choice. In our case, the chicken tikka, king prawns and kebabs. The chopped garnish can then go on top of the meat and salad if any can stay on the side. Talking about the salad, these need

1. Samosa

Fried pastry parcels filled with spiced vegetables

2. Chicken Tikka Starter

Spiced and diced chicken with fried onions and lemon seasoning. For those who like their meat from the tandoori oven, the chicken tikka, is a great starter. With that smoked oven flavour, the chicken tender chicken pieces, marinated and cooked to perfection is a perfect meat based starter. Although, we did save the chicken to go with our main, photo below.

3. Zinger Kebab Starter

Grilled King Prawns seasoned with lemon and served with fried onions. The king prawn is big and tasty although an extra prawn would be nice. The only down side is it is a bit tough but that is what you get for ordering shell fish at an Indian.

4. Sheek Kebab Starter

Minced lamb served on skewer, served with fried onions and seasoned with homemade pepper

Mains and Sundries

1. Chicken Madras

A tomato based dish with spicy curry sauce, served with lemon juice

2. Chicken Tikka

Tandoor cooked chicken bites

Sundries: Pilau Rice and Naan Bread.

It’s worth noting that the naan breads were made fresh on site with the tandoor oven. Fresh and all the more authentic. Definitely worth a try.

3. Lamb Ceylon

Lamb in a spicy tomato base with coconut flavouring

There were other mains that we ordered but we were too busy eating and enjoying our food that we forgot to take more photos. We promise to do this at our next visit.

Sundries

Keema Rice – spiced rice with minced lamb

Would we go back again

Yes, we would definitely go back again. Not paying a premium for drinks and reasonably priced dishes are good reasons to come back. While many establishments have raised their prices, some to exorbitant leaves, it is great to see sensible restaurants such as Panahar keeping it real, making prepared food affordable for many including students and locals in the area.