HOWEVER much you may love Indian food, it is hard to disagree that most Indian restaurants are deeply unlovely, no matter how high the standards of their cuisine and service.

The flock wallpaper look that made Indian restaurants so exotic for diners brought up on a diet of fish-and-chip shops and chain steak houses when they began appearing on English high streets in the 1970's still lingers on in all too many of them. And it is not ironic, post modern or retro-chic: just bad taste.

So an Indian restaurant that combines excellent food, personal service and a real sense of style is a find to be treasured. Such is Dine India, and the discovery was all the more delightful because it was made in one of the least stylish parts of Watford, St Albans Road.

From the street, Dine India appears small, no more than a takeaway with a few tables behind the reception and waiting area. But venture beyond this and you realise that here are really two restaurants in one. The front dining area is reserved for larger groups, with long, rectangular tables, although with an 11pm closing time, there is no danger of finding the post-chucking out time vindaloo crowd here.

Through a series of arches is a more intimate restaurant, two rooms catering for smaller groups and couples where the decor and furnishings have been chosen to create a relaxing and stylish atmosphere. The round tables are draped in real linen; the colours are cool; the unobtrusive music the most beautiful of the classics; the lighting soft, without being dim, and decorative clutter kept to a minimum. The back room is new, a conservatory with glass roof and French windows opening onto a small courtyard with a fountain.

The elements combine into a restaurant in which it is a pleasure to dine, and a pleasure in which to linger over the superb food. Being off the beaten track for such quality, Dine India's managers, cousins Kaz Zaman and Ala Miah, have worked hard to cultivate a loyal clientele, mainly by word-of-mouth, and they are proud that many regular diners travel from as far afield as Edgware and Amersham, and that many former local people continue to return long after they have moved away from the area.

The extensive menu features everything you would expect (only done much better than you will be used to), except the traditional handful of poorly prepared English dishes for the odd customer who refuses to touch "curry". There are also a few dishes that were novelties to me in an Indian restaurant, such as a variety of duck dishes (look for "hush").

So here is a restaurant that successfully unites wonderful Indian food with understated English style. Its real triumph is to be an excellent restaurant that serves excellent food: you choose to go there because you know you will enjoy the whole experience, not just because you "fancy an Indian". CH

Dine India, 328, St Albans Road, Watford,

Telephone: 01923 221131

Reproduced from Limited Edition magazine, exclusive guides to living in Hertfordshire, Middlesex and the London Borough of Barnet (01923 216295)

December 19, 2001 14:00