Just a quick note on a place I popped in for a lunch after yet another morning in Harrow. (Its getting silly now- I'll have to change the name of the blog to eating out in North West London.)

I have just bought a copy of the Charles Campion Restaurant Guide having not owned a copy for several years. I've mentioned before that I have limited faith in Time Out but the reverse is true for Mr Campion, who is undoubtedly my favourite critic. It looks like there's plenty of places still for me to try up in the grim north west, but on the down side, I'm unlikely to get through them all and start heading to un-heralded places anytime soon.

Anyway, I digress. I tried out Sanghaman before getting my copy of Mr Campion's guide, on the basis of a “critics choice” red star in Time Out. I know now that its also well regarded by Charles Campion so is very much on the beaten path in Wembley terms. This is only a short description as I had lunch alone so didn't have the opportunity to try a lot of the fairly extensive menu.

My waiter was very friendly but there was a bit of a language barrier so I wasn't quite sure what I'd ordered. This wasn't helped by the structure of the menu which rather assumes you know what you're getting. I ordered what I thought was a starter called Channa Battura, from a menu section called “Traditional Tops”. When it arrived I realised I'd had it before in India but forgotten the name. It isn't a starter but is a curry with an enormous puffed up bread, eaten often as a breakfast in India and substantial enough to be a main course. No matter, I ploughed on.

The bread gets puffed up by being deep fried, but despite that was light and not at all greasy. The bread is used to eat the chick pea based curry. The curry was strongly spiced and finished with a lot of freshly made garam masala. There was no shortage of chilli heat and the clear flavour of jeera but unfortunately the dish was a bit oily and the texture not quite as thick and chunky as it might have been. This was a good dish with strong fresh spicing, but it wasn't in any way exceptional.

I'd ordered a salt lassi, resisting the temptation of a lager at lunch and it came quickly along with tap water. The lassi was unadorned which isn't necessarily a bad thing. It was a bit on the thick side and slightly oversalted for a cold winter day, but was a perfectly workmanlike accompaniment to the fairly hot food.

I was already pretty full when my main course arrived, a dish of Dingri Mutteer which the waiter had recommended. The waiter had told me it was a pea and baby corn curry, which is exactly what it was. Oddly though, a bit of internet research tells me the name normally refers to pea and mushroom. As I say, the waiter had told me and I can't pretend I knew it should be mushrooms so no complaints on that score.

The curry was strong on turmeric, and was flecked through with a lot of finely diced red chilli. This gave it a kick but it wasn't too hot and the fieriness was tempered by fresh coriander and the aforementioned lassi. This was a good dish, plenty of peas that somehow had not been overcooked. The same can be said for the baby corn which had a satisfying crunch.

Essentially this place delivered good food, freshly made. The bill was £7.50 and the service was friendly. But its not as stand out as Dadima with nothing really exceptional and it wouldn't be worth a trip out on its own account. That said if your in the area and have already tried Dadima, its certainly worth a look, though there are many promising alternatives, on which on current form I'll be reporting in due course!