Now in our 10th year, the first visit of the new decade was to Shanaya Restaurant which is situated on the old A6 in the village of Mountsorrel, approximately mid-way between Leicester and Loughborough.

Shanaya was opened by the owner Niraj around two years ago and is situated in the same building as the former Bayleaf Indian Restaurant and Porto Gomez Bistro.

You will have read that we have previously visited two other establishments in this village (in 2012 and 2013) although one of these is now a Domino’s Pizza outlet!

For those that do not know, Mountsorrel has a ‘Mounting Stone’ that was used by those that arrived on horseback and legend has it that it was once used by the famous highwayman ‘Dick Turpin’ to mount ‘Black Bess’ on his travels to York… next time you are in the area why not try and find the Plaque and the ‘Mounting Stone’ itself.

Please note that there is limited parking on the road outside the restaurant although there is a car park around 100 metres away.

The sign outside reads that Shanaya is ‘Multi Cuisine’ and although they also offer Chinese and Thai food, the majority of their dishes are served with an Indian bias.

On entering we were greeted by the owner Niraj who was very welcoming and although there is a small seating area with chairs/sofa’s should you wish to have a drink and peruse the menu, we decided to order drinks at the bar and go straight to our table.

There are several draft beers available (inc. Kingfisher, Fosters, Tiger) and although they offered alcohol-free bottles of Cobra, unfortunately they only had two left. Niraj did send his delivery driver to fetch some more but he appeared 15 minutes later without them? It’s a shame that being the first week of the New Year they were not set-up for the ‘Drivers’ and those partaking in ‘Dry January’.

As soon as we sat down, the waitress (without any prompt) brought poppadoms/pickles to the table but as you would have read previously, we did request some more as we do like a couple each.

The poppadoms were crisp/light and the pickle tray consisted of the standard chopped onion, mango chutney and mint yoghurt. Additional pickles were brought to the table when we ran out.

Between courses we were served complimentary Onion Bhaji’s which were flavoursome and a very welcome gesture whilst we awaited our Mains.

The ‘Multi Cuisine’ menu offered a variety of dishes from many parts of India and along with a selection of signature dishes they also had the traditional favourites.

The mains chosen were Chicken Tawa, Nepalese Chicken, Lamb Jalfrezi, Chicken Shashlik and Chicken Chana Saag (which although was not on the menu, they were more than happy to please).

Our accompaniments were Boiled, Coconut and Jeera Rice as well as 2 x Bullet Naan’s and a Keema Naan which were all very nice indeed. The extra Chillies and Coriander that was requested at time of order, also arrived without a prompt.

The Mains were well presented, served nice and hot and all looked very appetising (as you will note in the photos)… the meat was plentiful and the sauces/gravy were tasty.

Everybody enjoyed their meal and commented that the service was excellent. Additional comments on the night were, “meal was very good”, “enjoyed it”, “good food, good service but Tawa average”

It was pleasing to see that Niraj also took time at the end of our meal to ask us our thoughts and to offer us a complimentary Brandy… which was gratefully accepted by some.

The price was good and a little less than our average (around £22 per person including tip).

A couple of comments that we would like to make, although didn’t affect our enjoyment, the restaurant was a little cold, in fact one member did keep his coat on for the duration. The restaurant/toilets could maybe do with a ‘spruce up’… and one member also commented that the table was abit sticky when he sat down and that his napkin was stained.

Overall, an enjoyable start to the year and may we offer Niraj and his staff our best wishes for the future and hope that this restaurant gains a good reputation in the area and are around for many years to come.

The score out of 40 based on the venue/surroundings/food/service/cost was 30.

Please note our reviews are personally subjective and aren’t necessarily what others may think or experience when they visit.