Dhaka Brasserie – OXFORD RESTAURANT REVIEW

Review By: Rachel Iliffe

Dhaka Brasserie
186 Cowley Road,
Oxford,
Oxfordshire,
OX4 1UE
Tel: 01865 200203

As you sit outside the Dhaka Brasserie on Oxford Road, you could be in some exotic location in Asia, until you look through the little
shrubs strategically placed along the low walled garden and see the familiar sight of the evening Cowley Road traffic.

Helpful, smiling waiters bring extra chairs and keep glasses full during our group’s pre-dinner drinks session. Finally, in our own time, we amble inside and take our seats at a long table near the window. The ambience is rather pleasing – we’re once again transported to a virtual Indian location with low lighting and cosy décor.

As we’re ordering our drinks a plate overflowing with poppadoms and various scrumptious-looking dips make its way to where we’re sitting and I can honestly say I’ve never tried poppadoms like this before. Somehow they taste lighter, less oily, and the dips are tasty and fresh.

Our appetites truly whetted, and resisting the urge to eat too many poppadoms, we order our main courses and soak up the atmosphere, which is surprisingly quiet (although it is a Tuesday evening) but still relaxing and we’re made to feel at home and able to do everything at our own (as it turns out, quite slow and indecisive) pace. This didn’t deter the patient waiters however.

The food, it has to be said, is outstanding. I order a chicken tandoori that has been baked to perfection in a tandoori oven and isn’t floating in oil as you can find with some Indian food. The naan bread and pilau rice is equally delicious and I wonder why I haven’t been here before. I
thought all curry houses were much of a much-ness but this one is somehow on a different plane. The wine list is excellent too.

One by one we polish off the dishes, amidst murmurs of appreciation and comments about becoming too full but carrying on anyway. As it’s a friend’s birthday we secretly (but as it’s so quiet, not really that secretly) ask the waiter for a dessert that will house some candles. They are happy to oblige and minutes later arrive with a rather eccentric-looking banana yoghurt-y concoction with candles and a large number of spoons so we can all try it (much to the disappointment of the birthday boy).

Drinks flow and conversation continues, and at the end of the evening we pay a very reasonable bill. If you’re looking for a really nice night out with great Indian food and attentive staff, then I’d highly recommend this place.

Fact file
Price: £20 per head for drinks, main courses, naan bread, and rice.
Parking: Limited number of spaces outside the row of shops next door.

Disabled access: Yes.
Date of visit: June 2009