KATIE BOND shares a secret destination beloved of Swindon’s curry connoisseurs

EAT AT:

Bombay Lounge

Roughmoor Village Centre, Peatmoor

SN5 5DJ. Tel: 01793 887799

info@bombaylounge.co.uk

Open: seven days a week, noon to 2pm and 5.30pm to 11.30pm

SWINDON has enough Indian restaurants to try a different one every day for at least a month.

But while many curry lovers would venture into Old Town to sample some of the tastiest Indian cuisine, my boyfriend and I believe one of the best in town is nestled away in Peatmoor.

Tucked around the corner in the village centre, Bombay Lounge is popular with residents every day of the week, for both takeaways and eating in.

We visited on a Saturday night and the restaurant was busy, but not packed, and we were promptly shown to a table by a member of staff who greeted us at the door.

Inside, the restaurant is small and intimate but not so intimate that you feel like you’re dining with strangers. The traditional Indian music and mood lighting add to the atmosphere and we noticed people popping in throughout the night to collect takeaway orders.

Not wanting to over-indulge, we chose poppadoms (70p each) to start, with a selection of chutney and pickles (50p each). The poppadoms were perfect – warm, crispy and lightly salted – while the sweet mango chutney was the perfect accompaniment.

Visitors to Bombay Lounge are spoilt for choice, with seven house specialities to choose from, including a Flamingo dish of prawn, mushroom and red wine, and a Moonlight Special cooked with cauliflower, mushroom and brandy, as well as 15 chef specialities and 13 vegetarian options.

Having visited Bombay Lounge a number of times before, I chose my main meal without even looking at the menu – the chicken Goan Special (£8.90) This house speciality is the perfect dish for those who like their food delicately spiced but want something more adventurous than a korma. It is packed with flavour and plenty of tender chicken, and cooked with coconut cream and green chillies (although, admittedly, the green chillies remained on my plate).

I opted for the mushroom fried rice (£2.90) which is possibly the best I have had – overflowing with juicy mushrooms and onions. Definitely a wise choice to accompany a main dish.

My boyfriend Ryan can handle hot dishes better than me so he chose the Special Chicken Tikka Bahar – a dish of both chicken and minced lamb, with chopped tomato and green pepper in a thick sauce (£8.50). He went for pilau rice (£2.50) and we shared a peshwari naan (£2.50). The naan bread was fruity and sweet without being too oily.

Defeated, we passed on dessert but took up the offer of a drink on the house, with a glass of Baileys on ice rounding the meal off perfectly.

On Thursdays and Sundays, Bombay Lounge has an ‘eat and drink as much as you like’ special offer for £19.90.

And later this year, the restaurant will be making its mark in Old Town and, no doubt, doubling its success when it opens a new restaurant in Devizes Road.