Atma Restaurant

I chose this for a quick stop before a movie at Finchley Road instead of the offerings in the food court. The food was great, but they certainly weren’t quick. Would I come for a quick fix before a movie? No, but I will come for a pleasant meal with friendly service.

Food

I still think a good judge of a good restaurant is in their lassi. As usual, we opted for mango and sweet, both of which were lovely and thick, balanced by some complementary spicing.

We booked with lastminute.com, which had a 2 for 1 deal. There was limited choices on dishes in the deal, but as it was the first time we’ve visited, that was ok by us. We had:

• Pappadams with Assorted Chutneys - two little dishes, nothing exciting, but gets us going while we wait for quite awhile for our other dishes.
• Tandoori Chicken Salad - Tandoori Grilled Chicken in Mint and Tamarind dressing with Fresh Salad Leaves, Pomegranates, Coconut and Cashew nuts - I love this, especially the addition of the pomegranates. The chicken was moist and beautifully flavoured, and the coconut and cashew added a welcomed crunch. The dressing was not too oily, but quite heavy.
• Tandoori Salmon - Fresh Salmon lightly marinated in Mustard, Ginger-Garlic and smoked with Cloves and Cardamom - juicy salmon, the flavours worked quite well with the marinade.
• Lamb chops - two generous chunks, very flavoursome, with nothing else to mess it around
• Salmon with raita - a bit plain, but at least the fish was moist.
• Vegetable Stir Fry - Green Baby Beans, Mange Tout, Broccoli and Cashew nuts tempered with fresh Coconut and Curry Leaves - this was very much like a Chinese stir-fry, except the flavouring is Indian. A little hot, very crunchy and nutty, this was really great.
• Takka Dahl - definitely not as good as Café Spice’s version, this nevertheless was pleasant.
• Naan - quite disappointing. Not oily, but dry and not hot or anything.
• Cucumber Raita - Yoghurt with chopped Cucumber, Onion, Tomato and toasted Cumin - quite refreshing, but then again, it’s not that hard to make raita right?
• Fig & Ginger Ice cream £4.50 - unfortunate that we had to stuff this down, as it was very nice indeed. I was just going to have a bite and then leave it, but I couldn’t help myself and finished off the whole thing.

We supplemented our deal with this from their a la carte menu, Duck Masala (£13.95) - Oven roasted Duck brushed with Black Pepper & Sea Salt served with crispy Okra and Black Lentil Sauce. The presentation was very Western, with the vegetables at the bottom, the duck stacked on top, and the sauce poured over the whole thing. The duck was moist, a little sweet. The vegetables were a bit dry and didn’t really work that well.

Rating - 6.5

Atmosphere

Atma has tried hard to make their restaurant “modern”, and they succeed to some extend, with timber furnishing, flowers and nice prints. It still retains some of its ethnicity though.

We dined quite early but the restaurant seemed to be filling up with regulars, but was not even half full when we left.

Rating - 1.5

Service

Slow but very accommodating. We needed to leave to catch a movie, so I informed them of that when we arrived. They said not a problem, but we couldn’t finish our meals and had to leave while trying to stuff that last bit of ice-cream into our mouths, not a good thing. However, the waiters were very nice, and followed up the kitchen each time we asked, and they were very meticulous in everything, how they place our cutlery, the way the straws face, the exact position of the dishes. Still, it’s not a good feeling to be anxious.

Rating - 3.5

C-factor

£22.95 p.p which was for the two for one deal. I guess then it works out to be about the same price at other Indians, but the ingredients are better and the portions are definitely generous.

Rating - 1

Brownie Points - 12.5

Info

106c Finchley Road
London
NW3 5JJ
Phone +44 (0) 20 7431 9487
Website