Its name may be the Hindu festival of light, but the owners of the Diwali Restaurant also promise customers a festival of food.
The Indian restaurant, in Queens Road, North Camp, has been running since 2010.
The restaurant’s website says: “Diwali, popularly known as the festival of lights is one of the most important festivals in India and its sub-continents. This restaurant reflects that ceremony where almost every food is cooked to mark the celebration.
“Situated in the heart of North Camp, Diwali has become [a popular] place for curry lovers, where everyone can enjoy lunchtimes and evening meals to celebrate any happy occasion.”
Customers can take advantage of ample free parking at the Diwali, which has been owned and run by 40-year-old Manish Khadka for four years.
Mr Khadka said: “We wanted to open a fine dining restaurant, and we now have a good restaurant with good food.
“We have seating capacity for 60 people in the restaurant and on Sundays and Thursdays we do a special banquet night meal deal where customers can enjoy a three-course meal for only £10.95.”
Mr Khadka says his restaurant’s currys are the best in the area.
“We do real Indian food,” he said, “not like a lot of other restaurants that do Bengali food. We do real Indian cuisine from south India, which is different to a lot of other places.
“We use fresh ingredients, and our customers get good service and good food.
“Most of our dishes here are different to other places, like the things on our specials menu such as chicken dhaniya adhraki, chettinand and the keema mutter.”
Chef Tulsi Kandel works in the kitchen and has 24 years’ experience in the industry. Most importantly, his boss rates him highly.
“He was a chef in restaurants in India and Dubai and then went to Wales before he moved here,” Mr Khadka said. “He makes all of our food and does it with care, he doesn’t rush around and he takes five or 10 minutes to make sure it is good.
“He uses all of his skills and knowledge to make every curry the best it can be.”
The restaurant employs a total of 15 staff who all work towards ensuring each customer gets the best possible experience when they walk through the restaurant’s doors.
Mr Khadka added: “I have a lot of staff who work here –five or six people out front. People like it here as it’s homely, we’re not rushing round we try to make it like home for our customers and we try to make sure our customers don’t feel like strangers and can come here and feel at home.
“We work hard to give the best service possible and with every problem we do our best and make sure when people come here it just feels homely for them.
“We’re in North Camp and look forward to welcoming people here.”
To vote in our Curry of the Year competition fill in the voting form, available in the News & Mail series newspapers.
