I WAS intrigued to see a new Indian restaurant had opened at Beamish, the village near the open air museum of the same name.

I was even more interested to know it is being run by the Ala Miah, the man behind Monju at South Moor, an award-winning restaurant with food far superior to its modest surroundings.

It is in the former Blue Spider, which was part of the old Pepe’s restaurant, and from our visit, on a quiet Tuesday evening, it would appear Mr Miah, who has been operating for over 30 years, has found a venue better suited to his talents.

The dining room is spacious, with smart carpets, rich opulent red walls, brown tables and high backed chairs in mixture of red and white leather.

Tasteful ornaments from Indian culture adorn the walls and overall effect is that this is a quality restaurant specialising in high level cuisine, and not merely another curry house.

Our drinks orders, pints of Cobra shandy, as I was driving and it was a school night, were taken and swiftly delivered along with the obligatory pickle tray. (£1.50)

I made the familiar error of over ordering poppadums. Experience should have taught me one each is enough, but I had to go and order four. (£3.20)

So when the four incredibly moreish big crisps were brought out, along with the pickle, served in brilliant white porcelain, we dug in.

I just cannot enough of the raita and onion salad, but I am assured the mango chutney and unidentifiable red sticky stuff was also just as good.

As always, it is a great opener but so filling, so my advice is to try self-discipline and stick to one poppadum each, to save room for oncoming feast.

It is also worth checking out the menu online before visiting as there was so much delicious sounding food making a choice was a bit tricky.

Not that we were hurried. The ever-polite and patient waiter made us made us feel could take as much time as we needed.

The starters, both coming in at £3.95, were easy enough.

I went for a familiar favourite, onion bhaji, which was served with beautifully presented, fresh side salad with a delicate twist of lemon.

My two medium-sized bhajis were crispy, not overdone and not to oily, and were a delight.

My friend, Ben, went for bhuna prawn on poori, tender prawns in a spicy sauce served on a small Indian bread, again with salad.

After much deliberation we chose our mains and decided to be more conservative with side orders to go with it.

I erred on the side of caution in terms of heat, too much spice doesn’t agree with me, and chose Chicken Malayan (£7.95) while Ben went for Chicken Jaipuri. (£9.95)

We also ordered egg pilau rice, (£3.25) Garlic naan (£2.95) and sag paneer. (£3.95)

We were given just right amount of time to sit and digest our poppadum and starters between course, which gave us the chance to relax and take in the surroundings.

Our food, when it arrived, was faultless.

My Malayan Chicken was thick and creamy, lightly spiced but not in any way too hot, with chunks of pineapple and banana. Perfect for a curry wuss like me.

I know there will be plenty of people who baulk at the idea of fruit in food like this but it just works.

Ben was similarly taken with his Chicken Jaipuri, which is chicken tikka piece marinated in herbs and spices cooked with mushrooms, onions, peppers and tomatoes.

The egg fried rice, also spot on, was the perfect accompaniment to our mains, which we mopped up and handfuls of the delicious garlic naan.

The sag paneer, a particular favourite of mine, Indian cheese cooked with spinach, was also just right.

The service, from our young waiter, was fast efficient and friendly and the food was flawless.

Even scratching around, looking for something to be picky about, I am struggling.

Erm, the napkins paper and I prefer linen. There I found one. Does that count? But that is it.

A la Spicery is a truly wonderful Indian restaurant with truly impressive food.

They do also do takeways, collection only, and offer set meals on Thursdays and Sundays, taking orders over Facebook.

How easy is that?

If you love curry night and fancy somewhere new I cannot recommend this place highly enough.

FOOD FACTS

A la Spicery, Station Road, Beamish, County Durham, DH9 6RN

Tel: 0191-370-1777

Website: www.alspicery.co.uk

Opening times: Monday: Closed, Tuesday to Sunday: 5.30pm-11pm

Ratings (out of ten): Food 10/10, Service 9/10, Value 9/10, Surroundings 8/10