The Last Days of the Raj, Dinnington
The Last Days of the Raj
Main Road, Dinnington
Newcastle upon Tyne
(01661) 598181
It's unusual for a restaurant to up-sticks, gather up its pans and move lock, stock and karahi to the next town, but that's exactly what The Last Days of the Raj did in 2015. This previously well-respected and popular Gateshead restaurant decided to forsake Low Fell and re-locate to a former mining village on the northern outskirts of Newcastle.
Their new restaurant in the village of Dinnington is a substantial, stone-built affair, the classic English village pub exuding an attractive old-world charm. It certainly looks inviting, so perhaps this wasn't such a strange move after all.
Inside, it's clear that whatever they may have left behind in the move, they clearly didn't forget their slightly old-fashioned panache to which their Gateshead customers had grown accustomed. Theirs was the only Indian restaurant I'd ever visited in which a grand piano took pride of place in the restaurant and while there is (alas) no grand piano here, the interior décor of the new Last days of the Raj is similarly plush and rather grand with bright silver-framed mirrors, chandeliers and deep pile carpets. It all feels decidedly up-market.
The waiting staff are as well turned out as the restaurant, but they're certainly not snooty. In fact, they quickly put our party at ease as they busied themselves with the drinks order. Poppadums and pickles soon followed as we began to study the menu.
The menu offers a choice of seven vegetarian starters, all of them fairly traditional, so we opted for the vegetarian platter so we could sample as many as possible. Unfortunately, there was a slight mix-up with the order and when it arrived it turned out to be a meat platter instead of a veggie one. The waiter was mortified, apologised profusely and scurried off to remedy the order. Our proper order arrived minutes later accompanied by yet more profuse apologies.
The platter consisted of onion bhajias (crunchy on the outside, soft and delicious within), vegetable samosas (pert, warm and fragrant, really good), nuggets of vegetable pakora (also crunchy, beautiful flavours) and thick chunks of roasted paneer (dense but soft and gorgeously spiced). Everything was perfectly cooked, beautifully presented and delicious. We could happily have ordered the same again.
The main menu offers three vegetarian specials – a medium spiced aubergine and capsicum curry which I'd sampled previously and really enjoyed, a hot and spicy chana jalfrezy, and paneer in a mild and creamy makhani sauce. There is also a paneer dish on the tandoori menu, plus a paneer tandoori massala, a vegetable biryani and a choice of 12 traditional curries and 12 vegetable side dishes. Helpfully, most items on the menu also have a chilli rating from one to five, so choosing the right heat is really simple.
I selected the vegetable madras from the traditional curry menu with a vegetable pillau to accompany it, while my partner dived into the tandoori menu and selected the paneer shashlik. We also ordered our usual bowl of tarka dahl and a nan we'd not seen before – adraki nan, which is topped with grated fresh ginger.
To be honest, madras is probably up at around my heat-comfort limit for curries so the vegetable madras was possibly a bold choice, but it wasn't one I regretted. The sauce was delicious, hot yes but flavoursome too. I've found that the flavour of some of the hotter curries can sometimes be overwhelmed by the chilli which can impart a slightly metallic taste to the dish. Not here, though. This was delicious – rich, complex and tomato-y. The pillau was light, dry, well flavoured and really good, too.
The paneer shashlik arrived in exuberant fashion, sizzling frantically on a cast iron skillet from which our waiter expertly (and with a well-practiced and theatrical flourish) served onto my partner's plate. We all enjoyed the performance, and the dish lived up to its extravagant entrance. Big, big chunks of well-marinated paneer were beautifully roasted and served with huge slices of onion and pepper in a light and piquant sauce. Paneer can sometimes be a little plain and uninspiring, but this was filling, warming, succulent and really quite impressive.
If you like your tarka dahl on the thick side, then you'd be happy with what the Last Days of the Raj serve – it's thick, garlicky and unctuous. And the ginger nan was a revelation, warm and soft with a beautifully fragrant and spicy edge and perfect for scooping up the madras sauce and the thick tarka dahl. We'd definitely order this one again.
A word about prices. In such plush surroundings, you might expect the food to be on the pricey side, but it isn't. The vegetarian starters are all around £4, traditional curries come in at just 6.95 a dish, the vegetarian specials are a little more at £8.95, and the rice dishes cost £3. That's not bad for such beautifully-cooked and well-presented Indian food. This is high-end cooking but at High Street prices.
It's easy to see why the Last Days of the Raj is popular. With its low ceilings and elegant decor, this is an easy place to relax in and a great place to visit either for a special occasion or just because it happens to be a Thursday. Whatever your reason there is plenty here to enjoy, not least the brilliant food; we could find fault with nothing. Dinnington might be a little off the beaten track, and you really need to have a car to get here, but it's definitely well worth the journey.
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