Ian Waller and his family enjoy a faultless meal out at one of the stars of Bath dining
Yes, I’ve been to Bandook a good few times before. There’s been meals out with my wife, friends, work colleagues and a couple of dads get-togethers, but this was the first time with my teenage children.
Still, the signs were good. Since they were nippers they’ve all been encouraged to try new foods and have learnt to appreciate fresh home-made meals. And then there’s the team at Bandook – as welcoming as they can possibly be with a stunning menu, great kitchen team and a wonderful ability to help customers choose the perfect dish for them.
You’ll find Bandook on the ground floor of Milson Place, located among a selection of boutique shops and eateries, with entrances both opposite Waterstones and from Broad Street. OK, I’ve never really got why there’s an old motorbike in the Bandook reception space, but it looks great and is a perfect conversation starter.
Bandook’s excellent reputation is built on its street food menu with super fresh food, served in a very welcoming and stylish location with a top class waiting team. They’ve also got the music levels spot-on, avoiding the booming sounds that can overshadow the food at other restaurants.
The comprehensive menu offers a range of smaller, tapas style dishes which are perfect for sharing, and larger plates and curry bowls, all complemented with a great choice of sides. With the help of the waiting team, the teenagers were soon enjoying a lesson in Indian cuisine, carefully picking the dishes that they would be happy with – not too spicy, yet keen to try something new – while the adults were frankly spoiled for choice!
After fair consideration, we went for a combination of kale pakora and Bandook chaats (£7 and £8), mango salad (£6), Punjabi lamb chops (£13), Bandook chicken wings (£7.50), squid koliwada (£7.80), Bombay Prawns (£8.50), Chettinad pulled duck taco dosas (£14), a bowl of Grandma’s chicken curry (£15), gunpowder chips (£4.50) and a selection of rices and naans.
As we were eating quite early on a Friday evening with the restaurant still filling up, we were then treated to a visit from Sunil, the head chef, a truly charming man who asked us about our choices and told us about his background in cooking. This soon became typical of the care that the team at Bandook put into our visit. Our waiter was similarly attentive and more than happy to answer questions about the meals and offer what turned out to be excellent recommendations.
And you know what, those recommendations turned out to be absolute corkers! The food was superb – with just wonderful flavours and real skill in the cooking. Best of all, the teens clearly loved it too, with the lamb chops getting particularly enthusiastic thumbs up. For me, the chats were the stars – dainty, tasty, crunchy and packed with fresh tastes.
As the meal progressed, so did the inquisitive nature of the teens, as they happily tried each of the dishes. OK, they were happy to leave the seafood to the oldies – which suited us fine! – but loved the rest, even the veggie based one, which was something of a surprise. There was even a request to try one of the yoghurt based salt lassi drinks (£6), which was greeted with smiles and thumbs up.
The great thing about Bandook is that you can enjoy really top class cooking from a friendly team in a genuinely relaxed environment. It’s also a family business that loves to welcome diners of all ages and really puts itself out to make you feel relaxed.
