SHIMUL'S Restaurant was completely empty before we went in on a Monday night.

It was not the traditionally busy time for any restaurant, but I wondered why absolutely no-one was dining.

It wasn't long before I realised that I had picked the wrong place to bring my girlfriend for a birthday treat.

The food - and the drink - was just not up to scratch.

The place itself has the air of slightly faded elegance, with its Persian "hunting" theme wallpaper and plush-feel to the fixtures and fittings.

A bar area is situated as you walk through the front door.

We were greeted in a friendly fashion by the waiter, who did not seem at all bothered we were the only people in.

And of course we got to choose exactly where we wanted to sit, which was by the window - handy because we could watch our car parked just on the road opposite to make sure it was safe.

The restaurant area is fairly small with space for, I would guess, around 50 people or so.

But it appeared clean.

The menu certainly provides plenty of reading material if ever we had got bored waiting for our food to turn up. There is virtually a mini essay on Indian food printed on the front.

It is difficult to see or hear the kitchen which is tucked behind the bar area.

I prefer to be able to see in to the kitchen in any restaurant, although I assumed the cooking area in this eatery to be as clean as the dining area.

Toilets are situated at the far end of the restaurant but did not appear to pose a difficulty to wheel-chair bound diners.

The obligatory Asian music floated down to our ears as we sat pondering the menu, which had many dishes I did not recognise.

It even had trout, which I have never seen in a curry house before.

Placed near the town centre and just up the road from a handful of nightclubs, I imagine this is a better place to go after a night out and having had several pints.

The pints of lager in the restaurant itself were the first indication the quality was not all that good.

Soapy and undrinkable, we ordered bottled beers after a few sips of the hand-pulled variety.

For starters we had king prawn bhajia, served with puri (£1.99) and vegetable pakura (£1.89).

The vegetable pakura was rather airy and insubstantial, not as good as the very best I've ever had.

The bhajia didn't have much taste to it and was just a bit too greasy.

Other starters on the menu include spiced sirloin steak with tehari rice (£2.49), prawn rushuee (£2.49), trout bhajia (£2.49), shami kebab (£1.89), shish kebab (£1.99) and chicken tikka (£1.99).

After the disappointing starter, we hoped for an improved main course.

My girlfriend chose chicken tikka (£5.99) with a side order of pilau rice (£1.79).

I ordered chicken tehari (£6.89) also with pilau rice.

The tikka was an incredible bright red colour, almost glowing.

Its taste, as described by my girlfriend was run-of-the-mill, and she didn't eat all of it.

I too left some of my chicken dish, which was again a bit too greasy and to be honest tasted very humdrum.

There is a choice of main courses including madras, roganjosh and tandoori - chicken (£4.89), beef (£4.99), lamb (£5.19) and king prawn (£7.99) as well as Shimul's special (£5.49), Bengal shurua (from £5.49 to £8.49) and various other dishes including beef fillet (£7.99).

We decided not to venture into the area of puddings.

The service was difficult to judge.

Since we were the only people in, it would have taken a particularly incompetent waiter not to have given us good attention. MATTHEW TAYLOR

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.