IF YOU have a spare couple of hours one evening you might consider making inroads into a novel, catching a film... or reading the menu at the Far Pavilion II in Atherton.

To call it extensive is almost to do it a disservice. Daunting would be more like it. Once you have negotiated dozens of starter options, there are reams of main course options with balti and tandoori dishes especially well represented.

Baltis on offer include house special Balti Exotica (chicken, lamb and king prawns in a special balti sauce, £6.95) and Balti Gorom (£6.85) -- described as very hot and "suitable for curry addicts".

For the truly bottomless-stomach there is even a 10 course buffet option, available to groups of six or more for £11 each.

Such was the choice that my friend and I were still ploughing through the menu after demolishing the poppadums, dipped in delights from an excellent chutney tray -- so often an indicator of the quality of what is to come, I feel -- and twice had to send away waiters eager to take our orders.

When we had finally decided, I went for a stuffed pepper starter. Filled with a tangy curry concoction and served with a side salad, it was easily the best £1.95 I have spent this year.

My friend was equally satisfied with his mixed starter of pakora, onion bhaji, breaded garlic mushroom and side salad (£3.10) .

Both were reasonably sized, which was just as well because our main courses were -- no exaggeration -- gargantuan. All the more so once two pilau rices (£1.60 each) and a garlic, keema and coriander nan were added to the equation.

The range of sundries, like everything else at the Far Pavilion, is probably unrivalled this side of Rusholme's Golden Mile.

My Balti Akbari Cham Cham (£6.85), chosen I confess for the name as much as for the description, came in an unfeasibly large dish and that was the only reason I did not manage to finish it. It certainly wasn't anything to do with the succulent chicken, the clean-tasting balti sauce or the cooked to perfection tomatoes and peppers.

My friend's Lamb Tikka Shashlic (£7.65) was an impressive sight -- its dramatically sizzling arrival and Himalayan proportions drew glances from other diners. It proved to be a Tandoori treat -- lamb and fried onions and tomatoes smothered in balti sauce.

If we had a minor gripe it was certainly not with the food but with the service. While the waiters were unfailingly professional and polite, we found them slightly over attentive. I was asked three times in quick succession by different waiters whether I would like another drink, presumably just in case I had changed my mind in the previous nanosecond.

Ironically, the last time the Bolton Evening News reviewed the Far Pavilion there was a feeling that the service was a little too hard to obtain, so in that respect things have clearly improved.

At any rate the food was excellent -- I've already pencilled in a return visit.

The Sunday Buffet from 12 noon to 5pm, when you can eat as much as you like for just £7.25 (children under 10, £4.15) and the Wednesday Tandoori Night from 5pm to 10pm when you can tackle selected main courses with poppadums, chutney tray and nan bread for £7.95 a person sound like particularly good value.

Overall it is not difficult to see why this spacious restaurant was doing a bustling trade when we visited early on a Saturday evening.

I just hope that when I'm next there the background music is something a little more atmospheric than Shakin' Stevens singing This Ole House. but then you can't have everything, can you...

STAR RATING

Quality of food ****

Menu *****

Service ***

Value for money ****

Atmosphere ***

Overall rating ****

The Far Pavilion II, 138/140 Bolton Road, Atherton, 01942 875077

Open daily from early evening

Star rating H H H H