Thalii Indian Restaurant, Stoke-on-Trent

Thalii in Stoke-on-Trent offers a way of eating that may be new even to diners who consider themselves old hands in British Indian restaurants. That’s because they specialize in serving tapas sized dishes on a traditional Indian thali tray. On my first visit I loved Thalii’s fantastic range of excellent value, perfectly cooked and well spiced dishes.

In search of Indian food

I wish I’d discovered Thalii much sooner.

I’ve always loved Indian food. Living in Leicester for twenty-five years, and not that far away for the previous fifteen or so, I’d been spoilt for choice when it came to restaurants serving the authentic stuff. But, although I have had some enjoyable Indian eating out since I moved to the Staffordshire Moorlands, I have to admit that I’d yet to have anything quite up to the standards found in Leicester.

Wanting to move away from city life, I suppose I’d initially been reticent to explore my now nearest city of Stoke-on-Trent. But, these days, I find I’m venturing there more and more. And thank goodness for that. Because I’ve just rediscovered the wonderful Indian food I’d been missing.

Thalii Indian Restaurant

Thalii describes its menu as predominantly vegetarian. But there’s plenty of choice for meat eaters, plus the odd fish dish too.

They also say they’re unusual among local Indian restaurants in that it’s women who prepare the food in the kitchen, which are dishes you’d expect in an Indian home. Doesn’t that sound good?

Thalis

Thalii takes it name from the style of Indian eating where the meal consists of small portions of different dishes.

The tray or plate, usually metal, on which the foods are set is called a thali. The little bowls containing the food are called katori.

As with tapas, which is so popular in Britain now, the big plus of this way of eating is that it allows you to try a great range of dishes. I love it and even have a set of thali trays and bowls at home – bought very cheaply when we lived in Leicester.

The Concept

What you won’t find at Thalii is a list of dishes with individual prices. Instead, the menu is based around three different sized thali trays, each with their own price. Once you grasp it, Thalii’s concept is perfectly simple and, I think, I great way to enjoy a wide variety of their outstanding food.

The three choices of thali, the number of dishes on them and current prices are:

Small: 2 starters, 2 mains, 1 rice, 1 roti (£14.99)

Medium: 2 starters, 3 mains, 1 rice, 1 roti (£17.99)

Large: 3 starters, 4 mains, 1 rice, 2 roti (£26.99)

One thing you should be aware of is that ‘mains’ are not necessarily that much bigger than starters. This is tapas-style eating, remember. Maybe consider them as two different types of dish rather than different sizes? That way you’ll have a better idea of what you’re going to get.

As a guide, Thalii recommends that for one person you choose either a small or medium thali. A large thali is meant for two people to share.

If you want to add more dishes to the standard sized thalis, additional starters are £3.50 each, mains £4.99 (veg) and £5.99 (meat).

Myself and my partner, ID, decided to go for a large thali to share, but with an additional starter. This would have cost £30.49 (£26.99 + £3.50) but our waiter kindly pointed out that we’d be better off getting two small thalis instead. Not only would this save us 52p, but we’d get another portion of rice too.

So that’s what we ordered, plus a couple of poppadoms (80p each) to eat while our food was being prepared.

Okay. Now we come to the best bit. Which tasty dishes to fill your thali with?

Starters

Thalii has 18 starters of which 11 are labelled as vegetarian. They do advertise vegan options so, if necessary, just double check with the friendly staff which this applies to.

The first of our shared starters was the familiar Aloo Tikki. The two fried patties of potatoes and peas were delicately spiced and nice and crispy on the outside.

Alongside was Paneer Pakora: two chunky cubes of the mild Indian cheese with a smear of chilli, ginger and garlic in the middle. Like all pakora, they were coated in a gram (chickpea flour) batter and deep fried.

Starters on our other shared thali were Kachoori and Thalii Kebab.

Kachoori are stuffed pastries, here with lentils, potatoes and peas, fried until crispy and flaky. These were lovely and light.

The Thalii kebab, not quite what we expected from the word ‘kebab’, were actually golden patties of minced chicken with herbs, spices and chilli. But they were none the worse for that and, unlike the other starters which had mild heat, had a good whack of chilli too.

Mains

Under ‘Mains’ you’ll find thirteen curry-type dishes, ten of which are suitable for vegetarians. Again, check with staff which ones are also vegan.

You can also go a little off the standard thali here and choose, for an extra £1 each, familar British Indian restaurant dishes like chicken tikka masala or rogan josh. Under ‘Specials’ you’ll find biryanis and baltis too (£6.99 – £9.99).

It was in the main course dishes we chose that I felt the great quality of the cooking at Thalii really came through.

Take for example the Aloo Methi below.

Aloo Methi

Methi or fenugreek is one of my favourite flavours in Indian cooking, whether whole or ground seeds or the pungent leaves. Fenugreek powder just says ‘curry’ to me. I think its smell and taste makes it more like a complex spice mix rather than a single one.

At Thalii, instead of the potato side dish I usually think of it as, Aloo Methi was raised to a star level. I don’t think I realised, until I downloaded the photo from my camera back home, just how much had gone into this little bowl.

The layering of spices, chillies and herbs surrounding the cubes of perfectly cooked potato was expertly done. There was none of the bitterness you can sometimes get from fenugreek either.

An apparently simple dish, but a wonderful example of just how great Indian cooking can be.

Keema

Likewise, the Keema minced mutton curry had great depth of flavour.

Dark and rich, the spicing and medium heat still allowed the meaty flavour to come through.

Chicken Karahi

Our third choice of main was the Chicken Karahi. The meat was very tender and easily fell apart with the fork, no knife required.

Again, I was struck by just how developed the flavour of this curry was.

All too often, British ‘curry houses’ rely on standard sauces which form the base of many of the dishes. This can make everything a little samey and boring. But did I read somewhere (on Thalii’s website or on their menu) that’s precisely what they avoid?

If so, it was certainly paying off with these individual, flavour-filled dishes.

Daal, Rice & Roti

Our fourth choice of main was Massor Daal or split lentil curry. As is usual with daal, this was a light and soupy curry with just a hint of delicate spicing in the bright yellow sauce.

Our two portions of rice, perfectly cooked with the grains separate, were an attractive dark brown – presumably from the fried aromatics it contained.

The big roti flatbreads, served in their own pot swaddled in napkins to keep them warm and soft, were very good. Nicely speckled with brown from the heat, but no burnt patches, they were just right for scooping up mouthfuls of the exceptional curries.

Great Value

So long as you understand the concept behind Thalii, recognise that they offer tapas-size dishes and order accordingly then I think you’ll come away seeing what fantastic value their food is.

With big appetites, neither ID nor I are the sort of people who’d normally order ‘small’ anything. So we were really surprised that two of the cheapest thalis were plenty for us to share.

With a poppadom each as well, the entire food bill came to less than £16 a head.

Thalii is unlicensed, selling only soft drinks including salt, sweet or mango lassi. But you can take your own alcoholic drinks, meaning you really don’t need to spend a lot to have a great experience.

Highly Recommended

But Thalii isn’t somewhere to go just for a budget night out.

I’ve paid plenty more for food nowhere near as good as this. The expert spicing of the dishes we ate was among the best Indian food I’ve eaten.

And I can’t wait to go back and sample more of it.

Highly recommended.

ALL PHOTOS © MOORLANDS EATER & NOT TO BE REPRODUCED WITHOUT PERMISSION

ACCESSIBILITY

I’m not aware of a formal access statement for this venue and the following is my subjective impression only. Please note, however, that I’m not mobility impaired so you may wish to contact the venue directly to check whether it meets your own requirements.

There is a step up into the restaurant from the street. While tables are quite close together, there is a wide gangway between the two rows of tables. I didn’t view the toilet facilities so can’t comment as to whether they’re suitable for customers with disabilities.

If you’ve visited this venue and can provide more information useful for people with disabilities, please leave a comment below. If you’re the owner of this venue, I’d be happy to update this post with any further information about accessibility.