The Bay Leaf, Grayshott, Hampshire

The Bay Leaf is a friendly restaurant in the large village of Grayshott, which locals tell me is fast building a good reputation in the area and is often packed on weekends.

It could just be for the Keema nan (£2.20), which not only has spicy mincemeat on the inside but is also coated in it. It makes the bread look like a pizza and the meat on the outside naturally dries out a bit, but it is extremely tasty so much so that I stopped mopping up my curry and ended up eating it on its own.

The double helping of keema with the Bay Leaf’s nan

But you can’t just sit and eat Keema nan now, can you? Madira means ‘alcohol’ in the language of the owners (Nepalese) apparently. The dish, either chicken (£7.95), lamb (£8.25) or king prawn (£12.50) is cooked in red wine and the (ho hum) chef’s special sauce. The red wine, clearly noticeable in the special sauce works nicely with chicken and for curry experimenters this really gives a new taste to your favourite food.

Another dish that caught my eye in the chef’s specials section was Five Spice Sea Bass (£12.95) with fillets of the fish pan-fried the spices and served with spinach and basmati rice.

But for those who like to stick to the good old favourites I can report that the Butter Chicken (£8.95) was just as it should be – creamy with a slight tasty tang and filled with perfectly cooked, juicy chunks of meat. Maybe with a Keema nan?

The Bay Leaf, 2 Crossways Road, Hindhead, Grayshott, GU26 6HJ. Tel: 01428 608030. E-mail: info@bay-leaf.co.uk. Open: Tue-Sun noon-2.30pm, Mon 6pm-10.30pm, Sun-Thur 5.30pm-11pm, Fri-Sat 5.30pm-midnight.

The Bay Leaf snapshot

Food 7⃣

Decor 7⃣

Value 7⃣

Atmosphere (Tuesday night) 5⃣

Service and friendliness 6⃣