February meeting - Haslemere - report

Shahanaz - shame! The food was great but the impression was that they really don't want to play. We like to set the restaurant the challenge - for the given food price, impress us. Most restaurants do this really well. Shahanaz prefers not to take the initiative in this way; instead, we had to pick the food from the (extensive) menu.They didn't play ball at all; if a dish had rice included (there seemed far more rice than we'd ordered), they just kept quiet. The drink prices were excessive. House white undrinkable - in JA's view. Coffee and brandy after dinner - very expensive. It all left a slightly sour taste and no-one said we'd hurry back.

For the record, we had a mixed starter each (expensive), and for mains we chose jeera beef (excellent), prawn dhansak (OK), tandoori chicken (good), chicken jalfrezi (very tasty), lamb nehari (delicious, lamb shank), and lamb madras. Rice, naans and three vegetables amongst six of us.

We didn't go there meaning to push the boat out, but the price for six was about £270 including a modest tip. Including a pint or two in the pub beforehand, the evening cost over £50 per head. This isn't really what we want to see in these straitened times. You could go somewhere rather nice for that money. Usually we manage 12 for not much more than £300. In our view, Shahanaz does some great cooking; enjoy it as a take-away.