The Saffron, Knighton

Star rating: *** Sophie Bignall discovers an excellent restaurant

For literally years, on regular visits to our local supermarket in Knighton, we have commented on the amazingly tantalising scents of Indian spices drifting across the car park, which are enough to make anyone want to ditch their weekly shopping and head straight round the corner to the Saffron contemporary Indian restaurant and takeaway in Bridge Street.

'Mmm, that smells so good. We really must try the Saffron one day,' we have said over and over again.

Well, we finally decided to make the effort, put our glad rags on and go for it, and we were certainly not disappointed.

The Saffron promises: 'A warm welcome awaits you'. It certainly does. The staff are really friendly, and there is a huge range of Indian dishes and desserts along with some continental meals to eat in or take away.

We were greeted on our arrival by very friendly staff, who prepared a separate table for us on the spot. They escorted us through a bar and waiting area which is quite separate from the dining room, so that diners are not disturbed by people coming to collect takeaways.

The dining room is spacious, clean and airy, with walls, tablecloths and so on in a pleasant matching colour scheme. It would be even nicer if they removed a table or two to provide a bit more space. There was just enough room between the tables for customers to move around, which was fine if you were small and slim, but might be troublesome for larger people.

The close proximity of the tables also made it a bit difficult to have a private conversation. For people enjoying their meals at adjoining tables, it seemed almost impossible not to eavesdrop and practically join in. But perhaps that added to cosy feel of the place.

The menu offers an enormous range of balti, mossala, curry, bhuna, rogan josh, dupiaza, pathia, dansak, korma, Malayan, biryani and sag dishes along with some continental meals including sirloin steak, omelette and roast chicken.

For those who like it hot, there was also a fine selection of vindaloo and madras curries, too.

The great thing about it from my point of view was the simply amazing vegetarian choice. Instead of the usual one or two dishes without meat, there was an enormous range of veggie food of all descriptions. Heaven!

After scanning through the long and very tempting menu, we decided to start with some papadoms and dips, and vegetable and meat samosas.

The starters were fab, and gave us a real taste for what was to come. The samosas were hot, spicy and crispy, with an almost puréed filling, quite different from the ones you buy in the supermarket, and you could tell they were freshly home-made. They came with a small salad.

For our main courses my husband had the lamb rogan josh and I chose the navtratna korma, a fruity, creamy dish. The next problem was choosing which rice to go with them. There were actually nine different types of rice on offer and we even had to ask the difference between the keema pilau and the Arabian pilau rice!

I also decided on a side dish of sag paneer (spinach and cheese) while my husband had a plain nan, which turned out to be really hot, fresh and delicious, much to his delight.

We had debated whether to have more than one nan, but when it arrived we were glad we didn't get two! It was very large indeed.

My food was really excellent. An Indian gentleman once said to me that the problem with many Indian restaurants in the UK is that all the curries are made using exactly the same sauce, which means there is none of the wonderful subtle variation you get in India itself. That is such a shame, he said, because the wonderful thing about Indian cuisine is the enormous variety of very subtle variations of spices and flavours.

That is definitely not a criticism that one could make at Saffron. My navtratna korma was delicious, pale, delicate, fruity and creamy. It was perfectly complemented by the Arabian pilau rice, which also contained fruit.

It neither looked nor tasted anything like my husband's lamb rogan josh, which was rich, red and spicy and which he said was absolutely delicious.

He was delighted to find that Saffron served Cobra, the famous Indian lager, of which he is rather fond. I went for the red house wine, which was pleasant enough, if not wonderful. If you would prefer something with a bit more class, there is a large selection of good wines by the bottle.

A quick trip to the toilet revealed clean, tidy facilities with soap and loo roll all in place, although the hand drier in the ladies didn't appear to work.

My husband said the men's toilets were spacious, airy, modern and clean.

There was an amazing range of desserts, including mango sorbet served inside a real mango, and many other Indian delights including some very exotic flavours of Indian ice-cream. A wonderful selection, in fact, for those with a sweet tooth who are keen to try an unusual, authentic Indian pudding.

It was a really enjoyable evening and an excellent meal and, to top it off, after asking for the bill we were given a gratis glass of brandy (for sir) and a shot of Baileys (pour moi). How amazingly nice!

That may be something you have to watch if you are Des (designated driver for the evening), but absolutely great if you are not.

My husband happened to be Des, and loves After Eights, so since I hate waste I exchanged my After Eight mint for my husband's brandy. A perfect end to a perfect night out!

The Saffron proved to be a real gem in our small local town. It's not the Ritz, and they really ought to replace the carpets, but it does offer really delicious, flavoursome, interesting food at extremely reasonable prices. We had lots of different delicious dishes and seven drinks, and amazingly the bill came to only a little over £30. You would be hard put to beat that anywhere.

There are also set meals for two people at £25.95 and for four people at £50.95, both options providing a range of tantalising starters, main dishes, side dishes and sundries. And there is a Meal Deal, a four-course menu at £9.95 per person on Sundays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Saffron is a Qfol (Quality Food Online) selected restaurant, and is fully licensed.

I liked Saffron, and will definitely go back and take friends. It has something to suit all tastes.

Saffron is open Tuesdays to Sundays from 6pm to 11pm, and closed on Mondays (except Bank Holidays).

Guide

MENU SAMPLE

Starters

Papadom with dips (55p each)

Onion bhajee (£2.15)

Vegetable/meat samosa (£2.15)

Main Courses

Tandoori chicken (£5.70)

Navtratna korma (£4.95)

Keema pilau rice (£2.00)