Indian Raja: “Unexpected Quality”

Despite my love for Indian food, in recent times my constitution has become such that I tend to steer clear of this cuisine. As I suspect my reader is not that terribly interested in my internal functionings I won’t provide further detail here.

In Riga, of all places, I got a craving for some Indian food and no, I didn’t live to rue the day so this review does not conclude with me sitting on the toilet!

After a bit of searching we came across the Indian Raja Restaurant in the small colourful square to the north side of St Peter’s church. We actually ended up eating here twice in our short time in Riga due, in part, to the fact that we greatly enjoyed the fare on offer and also it wasn’t that far from our accommodation.

The menu offering is pretty typical of Indian restaurants everywhere though the inclusion of Caesar salad, albeit it with chicken Tikka, and Tom Yam soup raised my eyebrow a little. As you can see from the pictures attached we stuck with what most would consider more traditional northern Indian fare.

The well spiced food tasted great as did the bottle of white wine we chose to wash it down with.

The nicely decorated restaurant was busy but we certainly did not feel rushed and neither did the service on one of the nights we visited when we waited an inordinate amount of time for our starters to arrive. On the second night the speed of service was spot on and on both visits our wait staff, attractive Latvian ladies in saris, were friendly and attentive to our needs – if not portraying a totally authentic Indian look.

As it was a bit nippy we didn’t sit outside on the terrace which has excellent views across the small square though, one evening we had an internal window seat from which we still got good views onto the square.

In terms of cost, the meal was well priced and given the high food quality it represented good value for money. This coupled with decent service and a pleasant ambience makes the Indian Raja a restaurant that I am happy to recommend to others and one to which I would happily return.

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This blog entry is one of a group (loop) of entries on the Old City area of Riga. I suggest you continue with my next entry – Peter I Was Here – And Still Is, Secretly! – or to start the loop at the beginning go to my first entry – SamaraH Hotel Metropole – Riga.

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