Moonlight Tandoori — Restaurant in England

This is a 'Take your own' beer, wine etc'., although they have soft drinks for you to buy. It's a cozy little place with a first class, humble and sincere host. His wife (Bagum) is the Chef and she cooks traditional, home cooked, food. Lashings of taste and made spicy and hotter if you ask for it to be cooked so. Good, solid, chuncks of meat or chicken with some excellent King Prawn and Paneer (Indian Cheese) dishes too. You are advised to book as it get's busy and they have a steady takeaway service.

A good selection of starters and the plentiful pickle tray of Mango Chutney, Lime Pickle, Minted onion salad and tantalising Mint yogurt sauce is a must with warmed, crispy Pappdoms.

Excellent and comprehensive choice of mains with a good selection of rice and breads to choose from. The Naan breads are cooked to order and the Chappatis rolled out and fluffed up as you order!

This little star of a restaurant is special because you get the home cooked taste. So many indian restaurants cater for the British Palet, and whilst this one can readily supply 'British Indian Style dishes, they thankfully create some of the best home cooked Indian food I've tasted in Cornwall. Just ask your host to make it 'Apna' or 'Desi' style which roughly translates to 'Our Way' or 'Local Way' or Asain Style.

Good indian food should be arromatic, flavoursome and with a depth of flavour. Thin sauce, shallow in flavour and full of colours like purple, reds and cream, usually indicate it's full of E-numbers, food colouring and little by the way of rich herbs and spices.

PS. and by no way a criticism, coming from 'Up North' where Bradford has some of the finest eating places, I struggle with the price of Chapati in Cornwll and Central London at around £1.80 a go. Up north the price is around 30p to 60p with many included in the overall cost of a main course at around £8 with 3 of the tasty and satidfying bad boys. Moonlight's prices are around the £8 for a mian meal which represents great...

After researching Indian restaurants around South East Cornwall, Moonlight Tandoori in Lostwithiel seems to receive better reviews than most, so 6 of us including our 13 year old, on his first Indian restaurant adventure, arrived here at 7.30 on a cold and wet Saturday evening. We arrived to an already busy restaurant, a good sign, this early in the evening. After the obligatory poppadoms and chutney tray, we ordered a good selection of meat and vegetarian / vegan mains, vegetable sides and naan. The restaurant has a ‘bring your own’ alcohol policy and we were provided with a wine / beer bottle opener and glasses. There is a Co-op just across the street with a decent drinks selection if you have forgotten to bring anything. Moonlight serves soft drinks. The food arrived in ornate metal dishes, each one filled to the brim and sprinkled with fresh herbs. Our dishes included: Chicken Tikka Masala, Chicken Pathia, a King prawn Saag, vegetable Dhansak and a vegetable Bhuna. Sides were bhindi bhaji (Okra), lightly cooked, so the delicate vegetable hadn’t dissolved into mush, brinjal bhaji, saag bhaji, a bowl of tarka daal, pilau and garlic rice and naan bread. Everything was cooked and spiced to perfection. The Pathia, sweet with a mildly fiery kick, still slightly firm onions and tomato sauce and tender chicken, The tikka masala, creamy and rich, the dhansak slightly sweet with a rich and spicy kick. The vegetarian mains contained a good selection of fresh vegetables. Nothing was too oily and the portions both generous and very reasonably priced. We were given take-away food trays to take any left over food home with us. The hosts are friendly and welcoming with just the right level of attention given. We will be returning! Highly recommended and probably worth booking as the restaurant remained full, all the while...

I love this restaurant, you can bring your own booze from a stone throw away at the co op.

They do not scrimp on the chutneys.

It's the only restaurant I have been for years, that I don't have to ask for an extra lime pickle, just for myself, as it's gigantic as is.

It's a family buisness with husband on the floor, wife on the kitchen, son occasionally making an appearance. A rare find in this economy.

They are friendly, accommodating, even to the messy and sometimes loud children.

The food is exceptional and they are happy to make any tweaks to keep you happy without taking things personally.

Cornwall struggles to match the restaurant provision you get in big cities, across all cuisines, due to a lack of competition, seasonal budgets.

We have chased the restaurant buzz here from porththleven to Padstow.

There is nothing worse than paying £100 for a meal, leaving, thinking your own spag bol would have hit the spot better.

I am never disappointed at moonlight tandoori. As a Glaswegian who lived in Manchester, Bradford, london Dubai. Was working for indian restaurants since 16 born and bred in the concrete jungle of Glasgow City centre.

I am a hard to impress.

Keep up the good work guys....