We visited a restaurant on London Road this month, it is a venue that we had been to previously, but it was in different ownership then and with a different name. The establishment is now Golden Sands proclaiming to provide ‘’Modern Goan Indian and Portuguese Dining.’’

London Road can be a problem for finding convenient parking, but at the end that Golden Sands is situated there is a car park in Nelson Street with plentiful spaces. Nelson Street is just off London Road very close to the restaurant.

The restaurant is well appointed and voluminous with split levels, entering at street level with a smaller dining area and rising just a few steps to the mezzanine which is more spacious and spread out. On the evening that we went it was fairly quiet and seemed a little soulless as a result. We were shown to the upper level and we were virtually on our own there while a party of eight or ten were filling most of the street level area just below us.

We ordered drinks together with papadums and pickle trays, which arrived quickly and we were able to enjoy them while browsing the menu. We settled on two chicken Tawa Masalas, one Butter Chicken, one Lamb Biryani and one Chicken Biryani, a side of Madras Sauce, one Plain Naan, one Garlic and Cheese naan, one Peshwari Naan and one Peas Pilau Rice.

The food arrived, it was plentiful, served efficiently, was well cooked and hot. We all agreed that the food was good, but we felt that the service, despite being efficient was, like the restaurant, a little soulless. Our scores placed this venue in second place for the year after the previous seven visits and it would have undoubtably scored little higher if we hadn’t felt the lack of a little something from the service, but it is doubtful that it would have displaced our current number one.

The price was very good, but we did have a discount card which gave us a very generous 15% off the price.

In summary, it is definitely worth a visit and you will probably find it livelier on a busier night.