Review:- Maharaja

So after a day in Liverpool I've been to this restaurant before. Whilst I'm not a vegetarian with dish menus I'd rather share so as I eat with vegetarians a lot I tend to join them.
So to start we had the poppadums with chutney tray unusually no hot one. Mango, onion, coriander and mint with a yoghurt one. Not a lot to say standard Indian fare. So onto starters I'm constantly trying to steer my mum away from safe and fail. So vegetable soup was vegetable soup not a lot to say. Idli were exactly what I aspire to didn't notice any leavening agent and detected a lovely slight sourness to them. This came with coconut chutney and a rather chunky sambar. Whilst they were not heavy they could of been lighter but certainly what I aspire to(my latest project is to make idli's and dosa's I suspect a post when I crack them). With these we shared Kerala Bonda a lovely ball shaped potato fritter a little soggy.

For mains one had a Kaya curry which seemed pretty generic not too spicy. The Onion Dosa came out as 2 gigantic rectangles with something similar to a potato Masala and another big bowl of sambar. The Chana Masala side, nice again surprisingly mild in fact most of the meal was one little gripe I suspected tinned chickpeas seemed too tender(may of been pressured cooked I see an experiment in the future). The Palak Paneer pretty standard, one of our defaults to put protein in the meal nice to see it correctly called rather than saag paneer. Aloo Jeera nice dry potato curry heavily scented with cumin. The pilau rice was really nice with the odd nut and sultana scented with aromatics. As for breads crispy naans I actually really like them like this, even though they always surprise me, I've got use to the tear drop standard fare. Peshwari had a nice sweetness and just the right amount of fruit and nut. Though to be fair I tend to like the sweetness with the fiery hot which wasn't encountered! The other was a lovely ghee enriched one slightly doughy. This meal was all washed down with 2 jugs of mango lassi which was lovely and fruity.

Pretty sure I'll never order dosa and idli at the same time, finishing this meal was an heroic effort.

Customer scores:-
3.5 for food
3 for service

Harsh critic:-
3 for food
3 for service

Would I be back:- Yes
Whilst it seems I've been a little harsh it was lovely and tasty and gave 2 vegetarians plenty of options. The negatives, some of it felt a little muted, a little toned down, less authentic than last time I came.

http://www.maharajaliverpool.co.uk/

Starters:-
Poppadum
Idli
Vegetable Soup
Kerala Bonda

Mains:-
Kaya Curry
Onion Rava Dosa
Palak Paneer

Sides:-
Chana Masala
Aloo Jeera
Pilau Rice
Peshwari Naan
Garlic Naan
Malabar Paratha