Athens – Golden Indian Haveli
We returned to Athens, after puncturegate, and it was still slightly simmering (the city, not the tyre) after the protests that had taken place during the day. There had been a little rioting and a lot of restaurants had closed, with parts of the city having something of an edgy feel to them so it wasn’t the usual pleasant evening atmosphere in Athens.
Fortunately, the Golden Indian Haveli was open and it is impeccably well reviewed on-line, so they’re evidently doing a lot right. It looked closed at first from one side, but there was signage indicating where to go. We were welcomed promptly and they checked if we had a reservation, but they had plenty of space available to accommodate us. The restaurant is on the left in the above photo, but the staff were standing outside and I didn’t want it to look like I was taking photos of them.
The poppadoms were crunchy and rich in flavour, although the two sauces with them weren’t of any great note. The beer was the Kingfisher lager and it is what it is, it went well with the food so that was handy. As an irrelevant aside, I’m the only person ever to have checked a beer into this venue on Untappd, there’s always usually someone before me, but not here.
The main event was though much better. I went for a chicken madras, lemon rice and a Peshwari naan. I have a common issue in finding that curries are lacking in more spice in some European countries, especially northern European countries. However, this arrangement was much better with the sauce having some spice and heat to it, which is what I would expect from a madras. The chicken was tender, the sauce was rice and the coconut cooled matters down a little. The ginger added taste, the onion added texture and the flavours worked well together. The lemon rice had a full flavour of lemon, which is something not always delivered, with pieces of lemon visible throughout. The naan was crispy and had the expected almond taste to it, with everything at the appropriate hot temperature. I did finish everything, but it was only at a push and the portions sizes were generous.
The prices here were reasonable, the service was attentive and the surroundings were clean and comfortable. There was a bottle of water placed on the table that we hadn’t asked for, but they checked at the end of the meal if we’d had any of it and they pro-actively removed it from the bill. I’d merrily come back here, it’s centrally located, there’s a friendly welcome and the food is above average.
