As Indian restaurants go, The Viceroy has all the standard dishes you would expect from sheek kebab to chicken biryani but it has also fused Indian dishes with Bangladesh cuisine to create some unique flavours.

The restaurant, which is celebrating 25 years, is tucked away in Watford Road, Bricket Wood. Although small and lit up with pink lights, which some may find off-putting, it is cosy and the simple decor helps add to the calm vibe. The music seemed to be a chilled out Indian-ish sound, however, they had a pretty short playlist and we probably heard most of the songs at least four times.

We sampled several starter dishes – to start with we had the tandoori hash tikka, a dry duck dish, which turned out to be quite disappointing as it was lacking in flavour. The lamb chops, on the other hand, which had been marinated in yoghurt, herbs, pepper and then grilled and garnished with garlic and ginger, were very tasty, slipped off the bone easily and were a delight to eat.

But our favourite starters had to be the garlic crab and tandoori salmon – the crab meat had been stir-fried with onions, garlic and coriander while the salmon had been chargrilled in a medium spice marinade. Both were served with a simple salad and cooked perfectly – not too spicy, so you could really enjoy all the tastes involved.

For mains, first we tried the karahi sea bass, which had been cooked in a medium spice, thick curry sauce – again delicious – the fish was well cooked and went with the sauce really well.

We also had chicken rezala, which was the house speciality and comprised of tandoori chicken cooked with minced lamb, green chillies, green pepper and onion. For those who enjoy a good, spicy vindaloo then I would highly recommend this dish. I found it too spicy to enjoy and could barely taste anything other than the chilli. The concept does sound nice and maybe if I had asked for it a little milder I may have had something quite delicious.

We also had pilau rice and garlic naan bread, which were pretty standard, and some sides. The vegetable shezani – was essentially peppers and cashew nuts in a yoghurt cream. Something different but delicious, the yoghurt-based sauce was actually a delight to eat after tasting the spicy rezala. We also tried the ponir (or paneer as most people know it as) tikka chilli masala, which was also nice – it was well-flavoured, a little on the spicy side, but not overbearing.

To finish we had coffee. It came with the milk sitting on top, which looked great but when you went to taste it all you got was milk, followed by black coffee. I gave mine a good stir and that made some the difference, but it was still quite a weak coffee.

When it comes to Indian food with a difference, The Viceroy is certainly up there – it has something for everyone – plus the added bonus of the calm, cosy atmosphere.

Details: the-viceroy.co.uk