Website – http://www.tamatanga.com/

 

Food – *****

Service – *****

Ambience/Location – ****

 

You can tell that a restaurant is going to be just fantastic when on a Tuesday lunchtime it is almost full to the brim.

 

I visited my hometown for a week last week and had the opportunity to visit Tamtanga. Now I have been there before but not in a few years and was happy to be going back there. I was babysitting my 8 year old niece and 12 year old nephew for the week so they were my guests on this occasion and the prospect of this I thought was going to be interesting because children have their own take on everything. As it is school holidays I could see there was a variety of groups on this particular sunny Tuesday; groups of friends, work colleagues and friends. Tamatanga used to have big communal Wagamama style tables but these have now been replaced with smaller, more intimate tables. The décor is vibrant, colourful and a great representation of modern India and the way people all around the world know it.

 

Tamatanga is located in the Cornerhouse in Nottingham town centre with nearby public transport and parking facilities not too far away. We arrived around 12.30 and we were shown to our table quickly by a friendly waitress who took our order too. The kids and I decided to go for the lunchtime deal which is £6.95 for a main and drink and this consists of a curry bowl with naan or rice and a soft drink. You can add a little more money and choose a thali or biryani. The kids meal costs £3.95 and there is a kids menu to choose from. My niece decided to choose the chicken korma with rice and had a creamy mango lassi. The dish was a classic korma, the chicken was tender and it was a generous portion for a hungry 8 year old. My nieces comment was “this is the softest chicken I have ever tasted!” so lets say she really liked it. The dish also came with a side salad.

 

My 12 year old nephew decided he wanted to go for one of the adult dishes and we paid an extra £1 for a thali. With this you got a daal, two veg curries, a curry dish of your choice, popadoms, a snack, mango chutney and then either rice or naan. My nephew ordered the homestyle chicken curry which was tender, flavoured with very homestyle Indian spices and it was really moreish. The other dishes were set and tarka dal, onion bhaji, mixed veg curry and Bombay aloo were on the menu that day. It also came with salad. These were all lovely, traditional, perfectly cooked and not overly spicy. The flavours came through well on each dish. The veggie dishes had Punjabi and Gujarati tones to them and reminded you of home. The perfect dish for people wanting to try different things but not break the bank. He ordered a coke to wash this down with.

 

I decided to go for a curry bowl and as a lover of paneer I decided I would go with the paneer makhni. And what a great choice! The paneer was just soft and melt in your mouth. The sauce was rich, thick, tomatoey, creamy, delicate and the perfect paneer makhni. I decided to have rice with the dish which was light, fluffy and airy.

 

We ordered a portion of naan and in one portion you get two naan breads. We also ordered a portion of the tamtanga chips which are like fries and seasoned in tamtanga’s Indian spice mix.

 

 

Now one more thing I must mention to you is that my nephew wants to be a chef when he is older and what just made my nephews day was that he had the opportunity to meet the chef at Tamatanga. Chef Himanshu hails from New Delhi where he was trained by his uncle who is a director at the Taj Group of hotels in India. His uncle also trained top Indian chef Sanjeev Kapoor. Himanshu told my nephew about how he was trained by his uncle and his passion for food shone through the entire conversation. My nephew was left really inspired and wanting to go home and experiment with his own ideas.

 

Overall the dining experience at Tamatanga was an exciting, modern but authentic, tasty experience and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend the restaurant to existing lovers of Indian food, people who want to get their first taste of Indian food and for people who want to try lots of delicious and authentic dishes. There is plenty to choose from on the menu from curry bowls to thali’s to biryani’s and grills so head on over to Tamtanga today for an authentic yet modern treat! (Don’t forget to mention you read this review when you visit!)

 

Priya Mulji