Madhu's Heathrow — Restaurant in London

Given that my dear brother and colleague Vinay Kumar is leaving the UK to go back to his family in India, I didn’t hesitate in suggesting MADHU’S Heathrow. I’d been there before a few years back and had a good experience.

With Vinay and two other friends Joey Ocansey and Gunjan Kumar, as part of our group we headed inside where we met the lovely Mina. Mina had a quiet presence throughout our dinner and her service was impeccable yet not overly attentive, she kept an eye on our needs.

I went in having already decided that I wanted a Thaali - Thali or Bhojanam is a round platter used to serve food in South Asia, Southeast Asia and the Caribbean. Thali is also used to refer to an Indian-style meal made up of a selection of various dishes which are served on a platter. However when we studied the menu which John our host explained in detail, we realised that the three course menu for £40 each includes canapés, 4 starters, 4 mains and deserts we all thought that was amazing value. I thought it would be one dish from each section starter, main and dessert, but it’s all of it! Might need to make that clearer on the menu.

Prior to our starters we were served some very mini popadoms with chutneys. These were tasty albeit a tiny bit on the stale side - I don’t think that this is a reflection on the kitchen team but I do think that the storage of these needs to be reviewed to ensure they retain their crispness. For the remainder of the meal, I can only say that we ate like blessed kings.

Starters: -Fillets of Scottish Salmon in a dill and spice marinade, Served in a banana leaf wrapper. -Murgh Tikka Traditionally spiced and marinated chicken. -Robata Lamb Chop New Zealand lamb chops, marinated in ginger and mild spices. -Palak Patta British marsh samphire and baby spinach leaves, marinated with chilli, turmeric and fresh coriander. Crisp fried in a chickpea flour coat and served drizzled with yoghurt and chutneys.

Main Courses:

-Murg Makhni Tandoori chicken tikka, simmered in a velvety cream tomato sauce, flavoured with fenugreek. -Nalli Gosht British lamb shank dices on the bone, slowly braised with a multitude of spices. A rich velvety curry with a distinctive taste of bone marrow. -Saag Paneer Indian cottage cheese cubes cooked with mustard leaves, spinach leaves and spices. -Tadka Dal -Tempered yellow lentils with roasted cumin, garlic and fresh coriander.

Accompaniments -Pomegranate Raita, Muttar Pillau, Selection of Breads

All meat at all MADHU’S restaurants is halal.

Dessert was gulab jaman, kulfi ice cream and gajjar ka halwa - these were beautiful and classics from the instant subcontinent, you could go wrong with these on your menu but il still left thinking why I expected a more innovative and different dessert - probably because MADHU’S Heathrow set a very high bar with the starters and mains.

For my favourites, I must call out the beautifully simple dhal just like my mum made and the amazing robata grilled meats (lamb chops and chicken) utter perfection - I could be happiest just eating those alone.

Now think, all of the above for £40 each plus a £6 supplement for prawns. That’s amazing value in a very nice setting!!

Now I have to say that the food here at MADHU’S Heathrow was for me better than at MADHU’S Southall, as it should be really. I can’t score this meal any lower than a 10/10 because of its amazing value. The restaurant will validate your car registration number for free parking within the hotel car park and therefore the experience is very easy and comfortable. I think Salim, John, Mina and the run a very smooth operation in what is essential a very large restaurant. Tables are nicely spread apart and the ambience allows you to talk, be free and merry or have a quiet intimate dinner.

Well done once again to Sanjay and the MADHU’S team - God willing my MADHU’S adventure will continue - big decision pending for me - MADHU’S Mayfair or at The Grove

Tata Consultancy Services Feed the Lion - Halal Food News...

We have just been to visit today and had a truly shocking, sour and very disappointing experience. Actually can’t believe how any restaurant, let alone one of this calibre can deliver such poor service. We were visiting London for a week and had planned to visit Madhus and pre booked in advance for Friday night. We were looking forward to the meal having not eaten much in the day. We arrived and there was a warm welcome, but then it went downhill. I had ordered chicken and lamb chops with rumali roti. My meat had come out but roti was nowhere to be seen although it was requested on two occasions, resulting in my food getting cold and on the third attempt of asking the manager it surprisingly arrived 25mins later wow! Onto the next, we ordered a kids meal with naan bread and a separate rice with naan, to which we only received one naan which should have been two, so we allowed that and thought well it’s ok mistakes happen. The final straw was my wife ordering a vegetarian thali, when she was presented with the starter she mentioned she did not order one, they told her it was all part of the thali. She ate the starter, then had to wait almost half hour despite looking around trying to get someone’s attention. A lady at the front desk noticed and then approached the table to ask if everything was ok to which we replied ‘no’. The lady went to the back to check what was going on with the thali as it was part of the mains bearing in mind everyone had finished their food at this point.

Whilst she was at the back, the manager who had taken our order approached and we began to express how unhappy we were for the 2nd time. The lady then came out and said it wasn’t a thali that was ordered it was the set menu. The manager confirmed that it should have been the thali as he took the order. We couldn’t believe the order had been messed up. It was actually like it was a prank. We decided to cancel the main as this experience was beyond a joke. The manager did offer to get us something else but it was too late for us, we were totally put off. There wasn’t much of a verbal apology as the manager said that we were right. Some words or ownership would have been appreciated. We did ask for the bill so we could leave. The manager said that the bill would be taken care of, which was nice of him but based on the experience was the least he could do. It wasn’t about the money, it was about the experience and eating together as a family, it was our last meal in London and it was ruined. I will not be going to...

Firstly I am trying to working out whether all the reviewers who have given this establishment a 5 star rating are related to the owner or never tried Indian food before! I don't know which??

We booked a table for 30 people for a 50th Anniversary on the recommendation by a previous patron. The whole group could not be seated on 1 table so we ended up on 2 tables side by side....NOT ideal. The food was mediocre at best nothing to shout about at all. The Saag Paneer was the most bland I have ever tasted as was the gobi & Dal Makani, the only thing that tasted good was the chilli/garlic nan, The Salmon & Prawn starters were excellent and that was the only good food that they served us (but Pricey)!!! I have been to "Dhaba" style restaurants literally down the road in Hounslow who serve better quality food at half the price. Little do the hotel guests or those in the surrounding hotels know that a simple bus ride away in Hounslow you have the choice of all the Indian restaurants you could have, if you are more adventurous Southall, the home of the curry in the UK is a 20/30 min bus journey away!!

Initially we were told that the meat served at Madhu's was NOT halal and on arrival we were told that it WAS (the meat eaters in our group do not eat halal) so after the table fiasco this was another blow.

When we ordered more rice, nan & tandoori roti it arrived after all the main course dishes were finished. This was the fault of the management and I do not blame the single waiter that served us, he was busy dealing with other tables.......surely if you have a large group there should be at least 1 waiter/waitress ring fenced to deal with the group especially when you have to take drink orders for 30 people as soon as he had finished taking the orders, the first lot had already finished their drinks and need a refill.

The food price was shocking, you would have thought we were in Central London!! The end bill was nearly £900 - £600 for the food which was ALL veggie and £300 for the drinks. I wanted to give it a fair star rating as my parents enjoyed the evening and the bill was not as much as I had initially thought even though there were a few members of the group ordering beer & wine but you have to bear in mind we did not order the meat dishes which cost more!! The manager (without us asking) gave us a 10% discount probably because of the table/seating issue.

I would NOT recommend Madhu's & would not dine...