Everest Dine - 61 Belgrave Gate, Leicester

Everest Dine opened in November last year so is a relatively new restaurant to Leicester. It aims to provide ‘quality food, exceptional service and outstanding customer satisfaction’ and based on my experience last week, it manages to achieve just that.

Everest Dine is an Indian restaurant with a difference.  It has created something new, something different, something good.  Firstly, it has done away with the often small and dated ‘curry house’ experience and has replaced this with something rather grand. The restaurant has high ceilings, pillars, extravagant décor and a huge staircase running through its centre which creates a real sense of luxury and opulence. The tables are beautifully dressed, complete with polished, silver cutlery, glistening wine glasses and a single red rose resting elegantly in a tall vase. Together it makes quite an impact when you first walk in.

The menu itself excites. As well as the traditional Indian dishes there is also the option to try a range of Gurkhali and Nepalese dishes. I was eager to sample the new cuisine so I selected all Nepalese dishes and I wasn’t disappointed.

Both the starter and the main courses were really tasty and beautifully presented on the plate. In their marketing material Everest Dine claim they use ‘special herbs and spices all the way from the Himalayas’ and I think you could tell. The flavours were familiar but much fresher and more distinct. With every mouthful, the flavours would come at you in waves – the sweetness from the coconut milk, fragrance from the herbs and spices and then a kick from the chilli. A really pleasurable eating experience. The portion sizes were probably a bit smaller than you may be used to in a ‘normal’ Indian restaurant but they were by no means too small, just refined and I certainly didn’t leave hungry.

The service was excellent. We were greeted at the door and well looked after throughout the meal. The staff were exceptionally polite, helpful, friendly and passionate about their food and restaurant. Even the manager came over to talk to us and gave us a dessert to sample for free, just so we could try it (which was also delicious by the way).

I thought Everest Dine represented excellent value for money. The food and drink didn’t cost any more than you would expect to pay at your average curry house but for this you got a fine dining experience with excellent service and food.

Everest Dine in Leicester is one of six associate restaurants across the UK and is clearly part of a successful and expanding brand. And you can see why. I think they have come up with an interesting and exciting alternative to mainstream Indian cuisine and dining.  I would definitely go back, so it’s another one for the Recommendation List.

Restaurant                 4

Food                            4
Service                        4
Value for money       4

Total                            16/20

www.everestdine.co.uk