03 Sep 2023
James Cameron visits the rebranded Nawab to find out what has changed apart from the name…
If you go to Nawab, then it’s Samrat, not Nawab. Not long ago, and clearly feeling jealous of the attention that new sibling the Nouvelle Lounge is getting, local favourite Indian restaurant Nawab went into a chrysalis and emerged as swanky regeneration Samrat. The decor is now on the swish side, with tassels hanging from the light shades and golden floral napkin rings. But has the cooking upped its game in line with the soft furnishings?
The menu is in your typical curry house format, with a number of specialities as well as the standards. We spent a good 10 minutes trying to decipher the chili heat rating, with a combination of the colour and number of chilis denoting heat levels but we got there in the end (though I’m still not sure if a yellow and a green together are hotter than a single red).
There were few vegetarian/vegan options outside of the side dishes, it does seem strange that if you can make a Bhuna with chicken, lamb, prawn or even king prawn that you can’t do it with vegetables but I may not be aware of the intricacies.
The specialities were the place to be, though, and this was where we focussed our efforts.
We started with poppadoms of course, and though the lime chutney did not come as a standard and had to be ordered separately there was an intriguing red dip that I have not encountered before, both sweet and sour and possibly involving tamarind in some way.
The starters suggested good things to come. The Chicken Tikka was succulent and had been flavoured well, as were the Maharaji Chops.
Onion Bhajis were on the dry side but this was to their benefit, as they had a lovely crunch similar to Sev and were not dripping with fat.
They also came with some of the longest carrot strands we had ever seen, suggesting some quality spiralizer work.
There was slight disappointment with the vegetable samosas, the only vegan starter on offer. These leaned too heavily on the potatoes and were rather bland.
This theme continued to the main dishes where an Aloo Gobi was underwhelming, the cauliflower entirely lacking in flavour suggesting it had been cooked separately and added in later.
The Tarka Dhaal almost redeemed them, though, a lovely bright yellow dish with an unctuous, pleasing creaminess.
If you let the chefs use meat and ghee things improved immeasurably. I ordered the Rajastani Chicken, intrigued by the promise of ‘Secret Rajasthani Sauce’. I can understand their discretion as it is a very good sauce, one that you can just eat and eat until no more food will go in.
It was also quite similar to the equally good Chicken Jaipur (perhaps that is the secret?) which had an initial sweetness that hid a later good strong slug of heat. We also had Lamb Shaslick, the sauce was again good but the meat was a bit too chewy.
Breads were expertly handled, and I very much enjoyed the Cheese Naan. This was described as being ‘bloated with cheese’, though it actually just had a small layer (probably for the best), and it complemented the meal well.
Probably the most exciting thing, however, were the Indian Noodles. I have never come across these before and I applaud the initiative as they really do work. If I had to compare them to anything it would be Super Noodles, but that would be two references to Super Noodles in a row. Pot Noodles seem too pejorative a comparison, although they seem to be owning it themselves with one of the options called ‘Bombay Blast’.
We went for the difficult to pronounce Silsila Noodles and the addition of chicken, vegetables and herbs really elevates this to a fantastically complementary dish.
A couple of further points. Firstly, the toilets have lights that turn off if you don’t move enough.
This is admirable from an environmental perspective but does seem to favour those who use the facilities from a standing position. For the sitters amongst us you either need to keep up constant hand movements as if you are conducting yourself or do your business in darkness.
Secondly, throughout the meal there was a constant strange beeping coming from the bar. I assume this indicated either orders coming in or the waiter getting his WhatsApp messages, but it was disconcertingly like dining next to a table of Tombliboos.
Samrat sits in a funny little niche, on the one hand it’s a very tolerable local Indian restaurant but on the other it seems to be striving to be something more with the decor and some of the classier menu touches.
It probably still has a little way to go if it wants promotion to the premier league of St Albans restaurants, and they could definitely focus more on the vegetarian side, but I for one will be happy to keep on checking in to see if they’re there yet.
