Chutney, Greenwich

You’ll have to go a long way to find a friendlier Indian restaurant than Chutney. The small, unassuming place (my friend says it always looks shut) is along Greenwich’s Little India strip, one of a few curry places (mostly takeaways) in just a few hundred metres of each other. But every time I’ve visited the greeting is warm and the chit chat over the choice of dishes with the waiter interesting. But this time Chutney surpassed itself by giving us a lift home because ‘the driver is available’. Now that really is service.

Chutney also serves exceptionally good food and has built a reputation for retaining customers who have moved out of the area. The chutney tray, as you’d expect from a restaurant with this name, offers something different: a dry cocunut chutney, made red with colouring and red wine. Tasty indeed, especially with a bit of sweet mango pickle.

Of the main dishes the new Napali Chicken (£6.45) a hottish dish, cooked with onions and green peppers, is to be recommended. But the menu offers so many interesting options: Boal Fish Massala (£6.45) a freshwater fish from Bangladesh, Pistachio Chicken (£5.95) for nut lovers, a Meat Thali (£10.95) with tasters of Chicken Tikka Masala, Chicken Korma, Lamb Bhuna, Tandoori Chicken, Sheek Kebab, rice and nan, and a good range of Chutney’s very own Tapeli set menus such as Tapeli Bengal or Tapeli Joypuri (both £10.95).

It’s not difficult to see that value features highly here, so it is no surprise that Chutney was named runner-up in the category of Best Value in the Greenwich Curry Club Awards. Should you need further persuading, old-school favourites such as Madras and Bhuna come in at £3.95 for vegetable and £4.45 for chicken, which is better than some of the takeaway neighbours.

Chutney, 11 Blackheath Road, London, SE10 8PE. Tel: 020 8692 1924 or 07947 120 989. Open: Sun–Thur 5.30pm–11.30pm, Fri–Sat 5.30pm–midnight.

Chutney snapshot

Food ① ② ③ ④

Decor ① ②

Value ① ② ③ ④

Atmosphere (Saturday night) ① ②

Service and friendliness ① ② ③ ④ ⑤