Reading Tandoori — Restaurant in Reading

my siblings decided that we should order takeaway from here when we were craving Indian food for dinner. We just wanted to share a butter chicken, get 2 naan breads and 2 poppadoms. The good news: really quick delivery! Was told it would arrive in 45 minutes, it arrived 15 minutes earlier instead! And the poppadoms were ok. The naan was tolerable. The bad news: the quality of the butter chicken..... VERY questionable. Dare I say a bit nauseating. I know butter chicken will usually have a hint, a HINT of sweetness to contrast the savoury taste and spices, but this was like candy sweet. The sauce was suspiciously yellow as well as runny and lacked any sort of "butter chicken flavour". It was sweet sugary coconut milk with pretty dry chicken chunks. Luckily I had homemade chana masala (chickpea curry) prepared earlier. I was surprised at how much better my chana masala curry tasted compared to the butter chicken and it was entirely vegan and well infused/packed with flavours 😂 I did mention the naan was tolerable, but the only downside was that some parts of the naan bread felt as if they were dipped in water, so weirdly a bit soggy like a digestive dipped in hot tea. The chewiness was still there in most parts and the taste was alright. Yeah honestly, if you don't have a good Indian restaurant nearby and this is your only option, just learn to make curry. Just DON'T GO.

Anyone curious about the chana masala recipe, I'll type it down simply. One of the easiest Indian curries you'll ever make and definitely tastes better than the food I've had from here. No need for measurements, just what your heart desires. Here you go!

•chop onion/s, a green chilli, coriander, ginger, garlic. •heat up any oil you like (I recommend mustard oil or peanut oil) and drop in some bay leaf/leaves with a couple cardamom pods once the oil it hot enough •stir it around for a minute or so then add in the chopped onion •cook the onion for at least 5-10 minutes, just till it's soft enough •then add in a spice mix of: ground cumin, Kashmiri red chilli powder, garam masala, tumeric, ground coriander and salt. I recommend putting the amount of each spice you'd like onto a plate before adding them to your curry so you can reduce the need to leave a bunch of spice pots out on your kitchen countertop. •add a good amount of tomato purée/paste/concentrate and stir for a bit •this is optional but I like to add a nice spoon of this chilli paste called Mr Naga. It's a tasty ingredient from Bangladesh, which has a good amount of spice and you can find it in most Asian stores. •now is the time to add in chopped tomatoes from a can. Mix it up then bring it to a simmer. •then you gotta blend it up. You can pour the entire pot into a bowl and smooth it out with a hand/immersion blender or you can throw it into any good ol' blender you would use for smoothies. You can also choose to sift it or leave it as is. •pour it back in and add a can of DRAINED chickpeas. Stir it till it bubbles up. •add in a generous couple of scoops of coconut cream to add richness. •cover and allow the heat of the sauce to cook the chickpeas on low heat for at least 5 minutes. •a minute before the chickpeas should be cooked, you should heat some oil in a frying pan and add in ginger, the chopped green chilli and cumin seeds. •when the oil is sizzling hot, pour it directly on top of the chickpea curry and cover and leave for five minutes to allow the oil to...

I usually wouldn’t have bothered and left an average review, but in a self proclaimed all you can eat buffet, I witnessed the OWNER (who is very proud to let everyone know this) pester a man into buying a drink when he asked for tap water saying ‘we barely make a profit on the buffet’ This is a lie. It consists of frozen samosas and spring rolls, chicken wings, a couple of chicken curries with the worst and cheapest quality meat available and lamb intentionally cooked so hard you cannot eat large quantities (for non buffet lamb this is tender). This is not legal unless specified in the terms and conditions and he has no right to pressure customers into buying drinks. The man was told to “buy a drink or leave”. Please note this is a very underprivileged part of reading and this customer was very polite and did not breach any rules The owner literally patrols the establishment like a man armed guard. Signs everywhere saying “waste will be charged”. Food is abysmal, not fresh, buffet is very sub par. Hard pieces of lamb so you eat less, cheap chicken wings and frozen samosas, whilst constantly reminding people they don’t make a profit, lying through their teeth about this. These people would never feed this to their own family and grossly represent Indian food. This is the view they have of the people of Reading who they think do not understand anything about Indian food so they can...

Very good tandoori restaurant, situated on the centre of Oxford Road, in Reading.

Its near to the town centre, easy to get to with good transport links nearby. It’s a medium-sized place, you’re usually good to get a table but obviously best to book, especially if you’re a large group.

I’ve been coming here for a while now and the food and service is of a high standard. The manager is great, very friendly and accommodating. I’ve both eaten in and got takeaway and tried many dishes over the years- madras, jalfrezi and biryanis are all good. When I’ve been waiting to collect a takeaway it’s quite nice to have a drink there- they have several different brands of the typical-type beers served in tandoori places.

The restaurant itself is a nice, chilled space and good for parties and gatherings- there’s plenty of seating inside and covered area outside as well. I don’t tend to order off the menu in restaurants but a couple of times I’ve asked for extra spice or something similar and they’ve always accommodated me.

Also does a buffet on Sunday which I’ve really enjoyed- really cool to try different dishes and sides and whatnot.

So recommended as one of the best curry houses in Reading- for both to eat in...