Having been reminded recently of the merits of Charles Campion's Restaurant Guide I used it for a lunch recommendation when in Ealing for work. It was a solo lunch so I didn't give the menu an extensive workout and so this'll be a fairly brief post.

The menu is slightly odd, listing, I think, special dishes, chefs specials and Nepalese specials. Monty's then are of the opinion that all their dishes are special. I stuck to the Nepalese specials, and given that is in theory a Nepalese restaurant, there weren't that many of them, perhaps 5 or 6, one of which was green chilli chicken so the menu alone isn't sufficiently different to be worth a trip.

I was asked if I wanted a Poppadom, which I didn't really, but for reasons I can't adequately explain I answered yes. This makes me very irritated at myself (I feel like a tool, the person who the question, 'would you like to supersize that?' was invented for). Obviously I recognise its my own fault. The Poppadom was fine, the raita was good, the chutney was green pepper but really quite mild and tasteless. The mango chutney tasted like it was bought-in gloopy stuff with some extra mango chopped up in it to make it look better. All fine, but I've had much better.

The popadom also came with a large plate of salad/crudite, of the type (large barely chopped vegetables) more usually associated with a lebanese. At the best of times I'm not sure what the point of these are. In this case I suspect I had not been the first person to have looked at that particular plate of salad and been unable to see its purpose. The lettuce and cucumber was markedly not fresh looking, the cucumber especially was rubbery and had seen much better days. Very unimpressive.

For my main course I had Gurkhali Dhal chicken. The dal was like a north Indian dhal in style with kidney beans as well as lentils but was much less thick than a Makhani dhal. As a result it managed to be simultaneously both heavy going and to have a fairly watery texture. There wasn't much of a chilli kick to the dish, though there was some. The chicken was not memorable, but there was quite a lot of it. In fact the most memorable thing about the dish was the huge portion, which would easily have served two, as perhaps it should do at over £8.

On top of the huge portion of curry, I had ordered both a Roti and a stuffed Paratha, not because I thought I would need that much, but because Mr Campion had specifically recommended the bread. Well it was fine and again huge, the Roti in particular much larger than it usually is. It was quite good, clearly freshly made and cooked, but a little too charred and not as fluffy as really good Roti. I'm not quite sure what the paratha was stuffed with, but it was fairly bland and again was fine.

My view might have been more charitable if Monty's was cheap, but actually my meal for one with a very small glass of slightly flat diet coke came to £15.60. OK, I ordered more bread than I needed but the waiter never told me that, and I didn't have a starter or dessert. It felt expensive because there was no reduction at lunch and Ealing is hardly the West End. What I ordered left me stuffed and for lunch would probably have served two, which would be a reasonable price, but that's hardly relevant because if your alone there is no option to get a smaller portion, and if you are with friends there's nothing on the menu to indicate that the portions are suitable for two. Its licensed so even in the evening the cost of alcohol could make it surprisingly expensive for the location.

I was very disappointed with Monty's as it gets a great write up both from Mr Campion, (who you will have gathered is generally my favourite critic), and on several online review sites. In my view its definitely not worth any sort of a trip, it might be a good option if in the area in the evening or in a group, but at lunch which is when I'm likely to be in Ealing and alone to boot I won't be going back.

Another day, another trip to Harrow. Somehow it had managed to escape my attentions that a restaurant rated as one of the best for Dim Sum in London (if this is to be considered London) was located up here. I heard about it on egullet and looked it up, finding that not only is it a favourite of Campion but also rates a 4 in the Good Food Guide, pretty rare for a Chinese restaurant. I got out of work at about three and needed a late lunch, so I crossed my fingers and headed over, hoping it was still serving. As luck would have it, it was a Thursday, as it serves Dim Sum till 5pm Thursday and Friday (3pm on other days).

I had some difficulty getting in, the automatic door not appearing to work and a waitress looking straight through it and ignoring me. I thought it was shut after all, but eventually worked out how to open the door. Pretty embarrassing, I do wonder how I get by when so many day to day basic skills appear to be beyond my reach.

From there on in, service was impeccable. I mention this as usual, as again there is a raft of online comment complaining about service. I believe in the importance of good service, and honestly think I'm probably a bit too demanding in that regard. In fact I'm a bit of a grumpy git, so how come I always seem to get decent service in places where others don't? I hardly think my blog with its 3.5 readers is going to have got my picture on every maitre'd's noticeboard, and I don't sit there taking notes (hence the sometimes Winneresque vague nature of the reviews). What are you people doing in restaurants to piss everyone off?

The interior has been described as sleek, I'm not sure I'd go that far. I was taken into a large bright room, filled with large circular tables for families, and just a few two-tops. The chairs were the metal frame type usually reserved for wedding receptions. All of the tables had linen and some flowers making it a pleasant space. Well I say all, mine had a paper cloth- perhaps they had heard about my eating habits in advance? Despite the relatively late hour, the restaurant had a pleasant bustle, with several tables occupied with local families, mainly Chinese, and an Indian couple on a bizarre date that seemed to consist mostly of complaining about their respective former spouses.

I ordered several Dim Sum from an extensive menu, and the first to arrive was good old pork puffs. The pastry was excellent, just a hint of greasiness accentuating that they were a guilty pleasure. The filling however, was a little odd, not bad, in fact very enjoyable, just odd. It had far more onion and a far more liquid sauce than I am used to, meaning it had more than a hint of a mince and onion pie to it. Of course, the meat was barbecued pork and the 'gravy' was quite sweet. Whilst this was clearly made by them and not in a factory, overall I think I prefer the less oniony and liquidy examples.

Next up was the Prawn Ha Gao, described on the English menu outside as crystal prawn dumpling. The first one I picked up fell apart, but apparently this is because you should leave them a minute or so for the translucent wrapper to solidify. The wrapper on the others was close to perfect, perhaps the tiniest bit thick, but certainly not much. Thin enough to see the content clearly and obviously shaped by hand. The texture gave just a hint of chewiness and actually felt dry on the tongue, really very good. The filling too was first rate, the prawn sweet and bouncy and the portions not at all stingy, excellent.

Whilst eating the dumplings the owner, or at least a lady of some seniority, gently joshed me about my chopstick technique. (In fact she complimented it, not showing off here, Its pretty ropey and at the time I was struggling manfully to deal with my fallen apart dumpling and she very much had a twinkle in her eye, but it was friendly and good natured banter) I mention this to simply highlight that the service was not only efficient and cheerful, it went beyond that.

I finished with scallop dumplings, again the wrapper was good but a little thicker here so a little further away from perfection. The filling had more fresh tasting prawn, alongside a generous amount of scallops. The content was all well cooked, not overdone despite their time waiting for me to get to them in their steamer basket.

There were a whole host of other tempting treats on the menu, for which I'm eager to return, but on this occasion, I was trying to keep it light for both my wallet and waistline. The total with tea and service was less than a tenner, well in fact it was exactly a tenner as that's their minimum charge for a card and I had no cash on me. Still a bargain for food this delicious, amongst the best Dim Sum I've had.

Whilst out in West London I had time for lunch and had it narrowed down to two options on King Street in Hammersmith, either the above restaurant, heavily recommended by Timeout and Campion, or Agni on the same street which gets a decent write up from Campion but also has a bib gourmand from the tyre people. I was meant to be saving money but I have a bit more faith in Bib on Indian than others seem to so my preference would have been the latter. In the event it seems that Agni aren't open for lunch so my indecision was cured, and I'm glad it was.

Sagar specialises in the food of Karnataka, though in truth you won't spot many differences between this and the other South Indian specialists in London. The restaurant doesn't look much from the outside, and indeed the whole of King Street is a surprising place to have a choice of top-rated Indian options. Inside however, the restaurant is clean and modern, with lots of light wood. In the wood walls there are alcoves with models of Hindu gods subtly lit. There were also roses on some tables, though not mine so I couldn't see whether they were real. Overall though the ambience was surprisingly civilised, this is not one of those places where you have to forego all aesthetics for an authentic tasting meal.

There was a lunch special which promised an unbelievable sounding quantity of food for £4.95 and as it pretty much toured the menu it didn't take me long to opt for that. The other reason was I was a little tight for time, and guessed (correctly) that the items on the special menu would be being knocked out at a decent rate. On a similar note, service was friendly, helpful and efficient throughout

To start came pappadam with chutneys, the pappadam was warm and perfectly fine but worthy of a mention were the unusual chutneys. There was a good mango chutney which packed a lot of flavour despite looking quite commercial, so far, so fairly ordinary, but the other two chutneys made a real change. There was a lemon chutney which was hot enough to give the desired adrenaline buzz but not so much as to be inedible. The sharpness of the lemons really worked, as did the texture of the lemon skins, this was so good I ate the lot, forgetting the volumes of food to come. Finally there was an apple chutney, sweet and delicious, a great contrast with the spicy chutney and an enjoyable change from Mango.

Next up according to my menu was a onion bhajia, though when it arrived it looked so little like what I'd expected that I thought there was a mistake. Looking nothing like your ordinary big red onion bhajis, these were discs of finely chopped onion coated in gram flour and coriander seeds. OK, I know that other than the seeds that is what all bhajis are, but these were discs so almost like onion cakes with the gram flour therefore smooth and even on the outside. This made the outside very crisp, but the interior still meltingly soft. The onion was also very sweet and came with some coconut sambar, and also another similar but more savoury, almost bready dip which I didn't get the name of. It was all delicious.

Then came the Thali which had a simple but delicious aubergine curry, not too oily and with the sweetness emphasised but with a good zip of heat. There was also rice which was well cooked, a simple combination with some peas, carrots and saffron, but the vegetables were not overcooked and the rice was at the point where it had bite and each grain was separate.

The piece de resistance was a masala dosa. The dosa rice pancake was perfectly crisp on the outside but remained soft on the inside and as a result was pliable and could be used to eat the potato and onion curry filling that had been served separately. Whilst a simple dish, the dosa here was noticeably a notch up on others I've had, and the onion and potato curry again had the combination of sweetness balanced with spice that seems to be the hallmark of the cooking here. More samba came as part of the thali, and its worth noting that it was not as excessively coconutty as those in some other dosa specialists, which for me was a good thing.

Finally came dessert, advertised as dessert of the day on the menu. Before the thali arrived I would have put good money on gulab jamun, which would have been ok, being on the more tolerable end of the Indian sweet spectrum. However, on the last section of the tray was a dense concoction that I had eyed with suspicion throughout the meal. Needless to say I was pleasantly surprised, the mixture was mainly a mix of semolina and banana, mashed together into a fairly smooth paste, but with the graininess of the semolina preventing it being just a mush. Stirred in were some cashews and raisins, and the combination of flavours was delicious. As the sweetness came from the banana it also avoided being too sweet or artificial and this was a really enjoyable dessert, even if in appearance it still has some way to go to beat French pastry.

Sagar has my wholehearted recommendation and as a bonus my meal with a diet coke came to £6.55 before the tip. This is even better value than Dadima, slightly better food overall and is more convenient for most. If you're even more cash strapped there is a lunch box special for £3.25 of two curries, raitha and fresh bread which is probably a very good option.

NB

I went to the Sagar on Percy Street near Tottenham Court Rd with friends when I learned there were other branches. The décor was identical as was the menu and the service again was excellent. I forewent the thali deciding to go my own way, and as ever this was a bit of a mistake, a friend had the large Udupi thali and seemed to enjoy it all, another friend had the dosa and was as happy as I had been in Hammersmith.

I started with a Special Upma, made with 'cream of wheat', this proved to be semolina, which I suppose is accurate. The texture was a bit gummy and mouthfilling, and I didn't enjoy it hugely, but suspect it was good of its kind. It came with cashew nuts which enhanced the expectation for it to be dessert when it wasn't, but this was countered with a fiery chutney to go on top. An interesting rather than great dish, but thats more down to my taste than the execution.

For my main course I had, Vegetable Khootu which was essentially vegetables in a coconut and yoghurt soup. The yoghurt gave the dish a real fresh tang, but the vegetables were a bit soggy and indistinguishable and the dish was sweet from the coconut but lacking a bit of kick to balance that. Again though it was interesting, and I had this with perfectly decent chappati. My friend didn't want her dessert with her thali, so I polished it off. It was another semolina based number, also with nuts, but this time it was sweet. It wasn't as good as the banana dessert I had had for lunch in Hammersmith but it was still enjoyable.

I can't compare like for like as I didn't eat the same items, and indeed, it will be apparent I wasn't paying quite the same attention on Percy St but for me Hammersmith edged it. The ingredients just seemed to sing more and the spicing to be more precise. Still, I enjoyed Percy Street, its a good and very reasonable central Indian, with a great meal plus beers and service coming in at less than £20. I believe they also have a venue in Twickenham which based on the other two, is probably worth a go.