One has to applaud the team at Rani Indian restaurant in Newcastle. It can't have been easy being hit with lockdown restrictions only weeks after taking the helm at the iconic North East curry house.
Fortunately, thanks to an indomitable spirit, the team have restored the restaurant to its prelockdown highs whilst putting their own stamp on proceedings in the process. Rani occupies an enviable location towards the bottom of Dean Street with the Tyne Bridge standing triumphantly in the eyeline.
Inside, the spacious dining area lends itself nicely to new social distancing requirements and oozes traditional charm with white linen table cloths, elephant trinkets and ornate gold columns.
It is however the food that really assumes centre stage here. Head Chef, Chand, is a real coup for the restaurant with 25 years of Indian cooking under his belt. Chand has followed the spice trail from Mumbai to Delhi to London and now Newcastle where he crafts authentic Indian and Punjabi specialities.
Our visit happened to be our first family meal out together since the lockdown and we weren’t the only ones out in force with the restaurant boasting a buoyant atmosphere. Rani’s comprehensive menu is a composition of setmeals, North Indian specialities, biryani dishes, old favourites and vegetarian options.
Tandoor dishes are another real trademark so we kicked off with the Pahari murgh tikka and aatishi tandoori king prawns in addition to a sizzling murgh shaslik and a portion of onion bhaji. These proved a stunning selection of starters, exceptionally generous, delicately spiced and shared around with gusto.
One real standout at Rani is the emphasis on authenticity with its menu populated by dishes unique to the different regions of India. For instance, check the butter chicken “Old Delhi style” with rich tomato gravy, cashew nuts and cream or the “Murgh Village Curry” with onions, tomato and fresh yoghurt.
My son Jack and I chose a similar speciality – the “Murgh Dhabba Curry”. This roadside North Indian dish is cooked with onion, tomato, green chilli and cumin powder and was absolutely bursting with flavour. The girls meanwhile were pleased to find their preferred Murgh Tikka Bhuna in a very agreeable ‘old is gold’ section sure to satisfy those with traditional tastes.
We supplemented this with rice, a chilli and coriander naan and an excellent ‘Gosht Belly Ram’ lamb dish – a secret curry invented by Chef Chand himself in 1993. All in all, a smorgasbord of Indian treats all washed down by a river of Cobra lager.
Ordinarily, it is unusual for me to order a dessert in an Indian restaurant (often feeling totally replete) yet we couldn’t leave without sampling the speciality Golab Jamun as recommended by our server. For those unfamiliar, this traditional Indian dessert comprises softly fried Indian syrup sponge cakes delicately fragranced with cardamom. Unabashedly calorific maybe, yet this way a real post lockdown treat and the perfect way to round off a totally authentic Indian experience.
Great credit then should go to the Rani team for bouncing back so impressively. Interestingly, the word ‘Rani’ is derived from the Indian word for Queen in homage to its Queen Street location. Fitting then that this restaurant is a real jewel.
For more information, visit www.raniindianrestaurant.com