Popular Grantham Nepalese restaurant Gurkha Square didn’t disappoint us

We didn’t book our table at Gurkha Square Nepalese restaurant. Just after 6pm on a Tuesday night in Grantham, you would expect to be kicking the tumbleweed out of your way before entering most places in the town.

But it was a pleasant surprise to see at least half the tables already busy with diners and more would fill up over the next hour or so.

Gurkha is a popular restaurant and for good reason – the food is usually top class.

Being a Tuesday, we were given the option of the Banquet Night Menu (also available on Sundays) and tempting it was too for a reasonable £15.50 per person. The banquet has starters of fish chilli fry, chicken tikka and onion bhaji followed by main courses of chicken tikka masala, lamb jalfrezi and a mixed vegetable curry together with plain naan and pilau rice.

It may well be something to go back for, but on this occasion me and my wife decided to choose something else.

I must admit when it comes to dining in Gurkha, a Nepalese restaurant, I tend to focus on their Nepalese bhutuwa. It’s a very tasty dish and I tend to chicken out of trying anything new. And while chicken is available, I prefer lamb. I would recommend any of the chef’s Nepalese specials.

I have found that the spiciness of a bhutuwa tends to differ from restaurant to restaurant and on this occasion it was at the top end of the spice scale for me but by no means enough to spoil it for me. I enjoyed a lemon rice and garlic naan with it.

Following an appetiser of poppadoms and pickles, the main course was more than enough to fill me up with a pint of Cobra on top.

My wife chose the chicken pasanda with mushroom rice and a garlic naan. She tried some of the bhutuwa which she agreed was very tasty although too hot for her taste. I tried the pasanda, thinking it might be too sweet as it usually is for me. It was lovely and creamy and actually not too sweet at all.

I had wondered if we would have to wait some time for our food because there didn’t seem to be a lot of staff on at the time, but we didn’t have to worry. The staff were very polite and efficient. They only asked us a few times if the food was ok. If there is one thing I can’t stand in restaurants, it’s the staff constantly asking if everything is ok. It can be overbearing.

Fully satisfied with the meal, we left in plenty of time to go and catch the latest Mission Impossible film (also recommended) at the Savoy.

Overall rating: *****