Kastoori

Any restaurant manger who greets you with 'Happy Diwali- Yeh' is throwing a greeting at you rather than welcoming you to his restaurant. His greetings and manner was so out of ordinary that 5 of us, who went there on Diwali, were rather taken back and did not know how to respond. I noticed all of us buried our heads in our menus and muttered our thank you. Their drinks were fine, especially the sweet Lassi, which was very pleasant. I am not sure how they can call Faluda drink authentic Indian, if it is topped with sprayed cream from a can which has spoon buried in it all the way to the tip, so you have to retrieve by dipping you fingers in the the cream. How can Faluda drink have no vermicelli in it? To substitute kulfi with cheap sprayed cream is height of ignorance for the server and treating the customer as stupid.

Most starters were fine except the 2 Chilli Panner we ordered. I've never come across Chilli Paneer which is buried in tomato gravy and which has green peppers which have been cooked to death to look sad greenish gray colour and loose their texture and flavour.

I could not believe the waiters ignorance when he started passing us the main course plates without first having cleared the dirty starters plates. Even when he did get around to clearing them, he could not help but leave one dirty plate in the middle of the table, which we had to move over to the end of the table to create place for our main course.

Their aubergines were bitter and almost everyone of us left it on the plate. Their main course dishes, apart from Matoki, had nothing special about them. Their cofta curry were swamped with overpowering taste of Aniseed.

When it came to the bill, they said they did not except Master card, without giving any reason as to why. Luckily, one of us had a Visa. When they put it through, that did not go through either. We noticed the manger disappeared to the back with the card and the machine without offering us any explanation or apology. Is it possible they had not paid their dues to Visa and MasterCard? Luckily, another one of us had a debit card, which was excepted quite readily. Not once were we offered any apology for the inconvinience.£87 for 5 of us without any alcoholic beverage and desert is also not particularly good value for a very very ordinary meal and pathetic service.

All in all a ruined Diwali evening which should have been the highlight of our day

kiran's profile     Other reviews by kiran     kiran likes    

This is Tootings greatest secret! Hands down the best Indian food I've ever had. Even my carnivorus husband forgets that it's vegitarian because its just so good. Everything is fresly and caringly made and the staff are just lovely. This is my number one reccomendation!

Medeia's profile     Other reviews by Medeia     Medeia likes    

A long established family-run restaurant, Kastoori cooks Gujerati vegetarian food, and does so very well indeed. Below are notes from my most recent meal.

I find this an extremely reliable restaurant, and would go more often f it was not such a pain to drive to from Chiswick. The decor is fairly basic and has seen better days, but is bright and fairly inviting. The menu is very appealing, with a wide range of attractive south Indian dishes. Popadoms are served with home-made chutneys: I particularly liked a tasty tomato chutney, and a spicy mint chutney was a good contrast (4/10). For some reason most Indian restaurants just serve up the same dull chutneys from a jar, so it is a refreshing change to taste such good ones. A bhel starter is a mix of sev, puffed rice, potato and onions, resting on a base of sweet and sour sauce; the dish was a little dry just because there was not enough sauce, but otherwise this was fine (2/10). Dahi puri were five little hollow pooris, inside each of which were chick peas, moong beans, yoghurt and diced potato and a tamarind-based sauce; you pop them into your mouth in one go. This was a dish I loved at the late lamented Sabras, and although these were not in that league they were nice enough. The dish would have been improved by having greater acidity in the sauce (3/10).

Masala dosa was excellent, the dosa crisp and the filling of potato, onion and spices more interesting than some. What also stood out was an excellent sambal (which can often be watery) and a well-made coconut chutney (4/10). A special of bean curry made from assorted pulses had good texture (3/10) as did chana bateta i.e. a potato and chickpea curry (2/10). Bhatura and paratha bread were both well made (2/10). Sweet lassi is excellent here, quite thick and having a little pistachio mixed in (3/10). For dessert the fairly rare dish shrikand is available, here a rich, thick mixture laced with saffron and pistachio (4/10).

Service was not great tonight; it was not very busy yet it was quite difficult to get attention at times. There seemed to be a family well known to the staff at one table, and at one point there were two waiters hovering over their table while I was waving in vain for attention. Still, the food is the thing. Starters are £1.95 to £4.25, mostly around £3.25. Curries are around £5, as is a dosa. A paratha was £2.50, bhatura just £1.30. Plain rice is £2.25.

Andy's profile     Other reviews by Andy     Andy likes    

This restaurant has food to die for, and authentic. Yes the seating can be a little cramped when they are busy, but this doesn't even come close to the food - it makes you want to eat there every day!

rex's profile     Other reviews by rex     rex likes    

Kastoori is a brill. Food is of a very high standard with lovely specials. Very reasonable. I Miss this restaurant since moving to Essex.

lee's profile     Other reviews by lee     lee likes