A gulp of moonlight Another Saturday, another date-night, and so I pandered to my husband’s love of curry, and booked us into a busy Chandani. Love at first, slightly over the top crystal chandeliered sight. Chandani is situated in buzzy restaurant festooned road in Woodstock, in a charming little Victorian house replete with old wooden doors and panels, fabulous art and lots of small opulent rooms which lend to a very intimate dining atmosphere. The owner and his wife are very attentive, and helpful with us first timers in selecting a variety of flavors to taste. We started with half a veggie platter (R80) which was more interesting than anything else. We had ordered a meat version, so were taken a little by surprise, but it offered the chance to taste a basted Paneer, a homemade cheese similar to cottage cheese. And then came the Peshwari Gosht (R130) - heaven in a bowl - lamb chunks in saucy cashews, dried fruit, chilies – my husband and I literally waged war with our parathas (griddled flat breads) in an effort to each get our fair share. The poor chicken and spinach curry (R95), while very nice, did not stand a chance. We were disappointed that there were no Indian beers on offer but they have a decent choice of beer and wines at decent prices, and while next time I think I may bring my own dry (of course) Riesling, there were some fab pinks to take the edge off our palatably hot (medium) dishes. And then there was the pinch of spices we got instead of mints on our way out……the perfect ending!

My boyfriend and I had dinner at Chandani Restaurant (Woodstock) last night and after reading so many bad reviews, we weren’t quite sure what to expect. I bought this deal on Groupon, and thought it would be great to have a real authentic Indian CURRY experience, when we arrived there this quaint house was transformed into “Little India”, the décor was absolutely beautiful, the aroma and atmosphere was very charming. The waiters were presentable and helpful, we were fortunate enough to have quite a charismatic waiter named Washington, who took the time to get to know our names as well. We were presented with light nibbles (papadums & sambal) when seated, personally I thought the Menu was very expensive, including the wine list, I had a Savana Light (R20) and my boyfriend a Hunters Dry (R20), and expect to pay for a beer about R15…I just took a glance over the wine list, they have a wide variety and even tell you which wines will compliment certain meals. The menu is very thorough and has a great vegetarian range as well, I skipped Starters and went straight to Mains, you could easily pay up to R75 for a starter (jeepers!). I had the lamb Rogan Josh (R98) and my boyfriend had the Murg Tikka Masala (R95) with a bowl of Jeera rice (R35) and Garlic Naan bread (R20)…it usually takes up to 45mins for the meals to be prepared but I guess we were lucky because we waited about 15/20mins max for our food to arrive and it was ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS! I’ve read on some of the reviews that the portions were “small” I’m not sure how that’s possible because we couldn’t finish all our food and took the rest home as a take-away, we were stuffed and I think the portions are perfectly balanced. The owners were very friendly and made a point of coming around to every table to ask if all was satisfactory. Date night turned out pretty good, but if asked if I would dine there again? I’ll have to say…not without a Groupon voucher!