A pink Pearl inside an Oyster! (Xenuk (Finchampstead))

Member Name: kingfisher111

Product:	Xenuk (Finchampstead)
Date:	20/10/08 (261 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: excellent food and atmosphere

Disadvantages: none!

My husband and I both enjoy Indian cuisine a lot (although He likes his food much spicier than I do!) and we are lucky to live very close to an excellent Indian restaurant in Finchampstead, Berkshire - Xenuk!

It's not an ever so large restaurant and probably seats between about fifty and sixty when it is full. It actually serves a mixture of Indian and Bangali food and everything we have eaten there is delicious! All the food is freshly cooked and the servings are very generous.

The menu is quite extensive and provides all of your usual Indian food with one or two extras. They also claim that they will be happy to cook any other dish that is not on the menu. We have never put this to the test though, always having been quite happy with what is on offer.

Starters range in price from between about £3 and £7 which are all pretty good value. Vegetable Pakora costs the least at only £3.20 whereas you can pay £6.95 for Tandori King Prawn or Squid. I tend to be a bit unadventurous with my choice of starters as I really love their onion Bhajee which is by far the best I have tasted anywhere - delicious!

There are a huge range of main course dishes ranging from mild to very hot - the strength of a dish is always indicated on the menu and descriptions do always seem very apt. When we ate at Xenuk this weekend with some friends we all chose different dishes and everyone was very pleased with their meal. I can definitely recommend the Murgh Tikka for those of you who don't like food that is too spicy. However my husband ate the lamb jalfiazi which is diced spring lamb cooked with green chillies, tomatoes and ginger. Obviously the strength of this dish was hotter than mine but he told me it was equally tasty!

I love all the side dishes you can order at Xenuk. Our meal would not be complete without their egg fried rice, mushroom and ghobi bhajees and bombay aloo. All of these are very tempting but unfortunately quite filling too. Our one problem at Xenuk is that we always seem to end up leaving food. Main courses tend to cost anything between £7 and £12 which I think is pretty good value.

The dessert menu is not quite so inspiring but our friends both ate from it choosing various forms of ice cream which they both enjoyed. The rest of us felt too full even to contemplate a dessert. However, we did order coffee and I had cappuchino which I have to say was excellent - again one of the best I have tasted.

Every time we have visited Xenuk we have always enjoyed the experience and last Saturday was no exception. The food, was excellent, the staff were very friendly, the service was great even though the restaurant was full, and overall there was a lovely relaxed atmosphere. The prices are very good and a meal for five of us including drinks cme in at just £30 per head. This seems good value for a nightout at a good restaurant.

We used to go to Xenuk a lot before we had children but now tend to go just for special occasions. As it does get very busy especially at the weekends it is essential to book. Contact details can be found on their website at

http://www.xenuk.biz

On the website they tell you that Xenuk is a pink Pearl inside an Oyster found in the Bay of Bengal. This sounds beautiful and is a fitting description for such an excellent restaurant!

However, just because we don't manage to get out so much does not mean that we have to miss out. You can order anything on the menu to take away instead of eating in and everything is charged at 10% less than if you were eating in. I do think that it is a shame that they do not deliver but you can phone your order through in advance and then just go and collect it when it is ready. The food that you take away is just as good as that you eat in the restaurant so you can't lose either way!

Definitely recommended.

Summary: One of the best tandoori restaurants in the Wokingham area!