Lavang Indian Gastronomy (Ash Vale) — Restaurant in Guildford

It has been a while since we've had a curry this good. I often have a prawn puree starter as it is quite a good way to determine overall quality of a restaurant, and the one I had at LaVang (King Prawn Pathia Puree) was superb: the prawns were delicious, the sauce made with fresh ingredients, not runny but not with added thickeners either, lovely heat and somewhat coconutty without being overly sweet. And served in just the right amount. The fried fluffy bread was beautiful and folded on the plate so you're not tempted to assemble it all into a wrap. As mains I had the Alleppey Monk Fish. Again, simply everything was right about this dish: the texture, the balance in flavours between the sauce ingredients, the heat. Sides of LaVang rice and garlic naan were to a high standard while sufficiently simple to support the main dishes. My husband had the prawn puree starter as well (he keeps telling me that he wished he could eat this every day for lunch and dinner) and the Laal Maas which was superb. I had a small taste of this and agreed: the lamb was full of flavour, sauce was great and the heat was right. We also ordered a side of Tarka Dal which had lovely flavours and again, was not spoilt by thickeners that don't belong. Finally, staffing and service: all good and prompt, given it was a fairly busy night (I'm so pleased that things are improving on this front!). I had an informative chat with the owner (who was as active and busy helping and serving as his staff) about the philosophy behind their dishes, and how they take great care to have all flavours perfectly balanced, so there's no need and in fact it is not recommended to adapt the heat. And he was absolutely right as it was all spot-on. Looking forward to the next occasion that will give us an opportunity for...

I would like to say, the attitude of the chef was disgusting…. 13/6/24, so, as a family we have frequented this place many times and have always experienced a wonderful experience, food and flavours have been second to none, however this evening was awful, probably one of the worst services I’ve had, 1st issue was- from popadoms to main dish was over an hour wait and when we asked why, it was due to the chef making the dish from chicken and not lamb as requested, so clearly had to start again When the meals were served one option was warm (as if placed in the hot plate-dry dish, while waiting for the correct dish to be cooked)when we bought this to the attention of the waiting staff, they relayed this to the chef and in turn he came out, is attitude was rude, aggressive and very arrogant, to which we as a collective asked him to leave so we could try to eat our meal, when I spoke to the front of house staff who was leaning against the side informing me that he was the boss and pretty much attitude of ‘tough’ The dish that required making again was like boot leather, it was a dish I travel miles/hours for but I won’t be doing this again All 3 dishes were not as we have thoroughly enjoyed on previous visits! From our previous experience to today I am sad to say I will be expressing my thoughts to family and friends to warn them of the changes of this establishment...

We had a really enjoyable traditional British Indian Restaurant meal here. The staff were fantastic, friendly and efficient. The lighting is warm and inviting. It's easy to see why curries taste better in the restaurant then from a takeaway service at home. Ambience is everything and LaVang has plenty of it. We kicked off with popadoms and the accompanying relishes. One of them was like a mixture of sweet chili, onion and spices. Its' piquant taste proved popular and one of our guests, Steve Fridge ( Fridgy) said it "was amazing", and ordered more of it. We all enjoyed our starters of tandoori chicken, chicken Tikka and Gulati kebab (minced lamb with a melted cheese centre). I was a bit upset that they didnt offer bhindi bhaji ( okra) on the menu. However, my gripe didn't last long because our well presented mains soon arrived along with Bombay aloo and perfectly tandoored breads. The Naans was so light and airy that I'm surprised they didn't need tethering to the plate to stop them floating off! The chicken Tikka jalfrez had a good kick of green chilii and the lamb dhansak's hot, sweet and sour tastes were very well balanced. Great night, memorable meal and highly...