Moghul Palace (Milton Keynes)

Moghul Palace Restaurant
Stony Stratford
Milton Keynes

I visited this wonderful restaurant last Friday as it was my ladyfriends birthday and wanted to take her somewhere different. I had only been in stony Stratford a few times before and never really tried any of the restaurants there.
I had passed by this one before as it stands out very well in the town having been converted from an old chapel into an Indian ...
...left directing us to the Moghul Palace as it's the most popular Indian restaurant in Milton Keynes. We followed the signs to off road parking and went in through the cast iron gates, it was then we noticed the lovely surroundings of the old chapel with lights beaming from it to cover the courtyard as well as the outside of the chapel/restaurant itself.

We then drove past a big water fountain to the parking out the back of the restaurant.
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Moghul Palace Restaurant
Stony Stratford
Milton Keynes

I visited this wonderful restaurant last Friday as it was my ladyfriends birthday and wanted to take her somewhere different. I had only been in stony Stratford a few times before and never really tried any of the restaurants there.
I had passed by this one before as it stands out very well in the town having been converted from an old chapel into an Indian restaurant.
You are probably all thinking what a bad idea this must have been and what it must have done to disfigure the old chapel.

I didn't really know what to expect myself as I had heard on the grapevine mixed reactions about the place but after hearing some really good comments I decided to book this up.
We arrived from about a twenty five minute journey from Leighton Buzzard to the outskirts of Milton Keynes venturing into the start of Northamptonshire where the turn off for Stony Stratford is, as we drove down further down the high street we saw signs on the left directing us to the Moghul Palace as it's the most popular Indian restaurant in Milton Keynes. We followed the signs to off road parking and went in through the cast iron gates, it was then we noticed the lovely surroundings of the old chapel with lights beaming from it to cover the courtyard as well as the outside of the chapel/restaurant itself.

We then drove past a big water fountain to the parking out the back of the restaurant.
Quite impressed with it so far we parked up and walked towards the front door.
As we got closer we could see that the chapel had been well preserved and looked after and did not look like any Indian restaurant we had ever been to before, we opened the big wooden doors to a big hallway and immediately saw the paintings fully preserved on the ceiling as it was so big inside (that was just the hallway !!)
So inside we ventured past the next set of doors leading into the main restaurant.
Well what a great sight this was inside, there were preserved paintings, bright colours, very good old fashioned lighting with candles on the tables and more modern ones on the walls, and this we never expected.

As soon as we got inside a waiter was there straight away, he asked us if we wanted to go straight to the table or to the bar first. We decided to have a drink.
The bar was situated at the bottom of a set of steps, not very many perhaps three of four but was sunk back so there appeared to be a lot more space.
We sat down in the seats and admired the view (this may sound daft in an Indian restaurant but the chapel is still so much part of this and they have done their upmost to keep up all the architecture and surroundings without taking too much out)
The bar area was huge, you could see to the top of the ceiling and look at all the old paintings which were a delight to see, and there were candles lit on the tables as well as the modern lighting that had to be put up on the walls for obvious reasons.

A waiter brought a menu over to us straight away, there was no hurry but this service was excellent. He just got the drinks while we chatted away for a while.
When the waiter brought over the menu there was so much to choose from, you really didn't know where to start. There were about twenty different starter dishes and that was without popadoms on the menu ! There were dishes of prawn, Duck, Chicken, vegetable, and that was just a course of the starter menu.
I ordered for myself a duck schislack (spelling might not be correct on that !) for the starter and for the main a tandori mixed grill which consisted of chicken, lamb, prawns, vegetables, and also came with a nan bread and rice of your choice !
Before we knew it our table was ready in the main restaurant and we went over.
As we went down the stairs we entered a smaller more compact dining room, this was not overcrowded and had just enough tables not to make it look too packed out. I think there were about 20-30 tables in all bearing in mind this was a lower level of an old chapel.

The waiter was there in an instant with some popadoms, the sauces and our drinks.
I won't go into describing the popadoms as there is no point, you have all probably had them anyway !
When the starters arrived we couldn't believe it it looked like a main course !! My duck was covered in a lovely spicy sauce with lettuice , cucumber and lemon at the side, the sauce was not oo hot that it would burn your mouth off but just that little kick to it for that right taste. Kathys tandori chicken starter looked just as nice with helpings of vegetables and salad on the side. Again this was not too hot but just at the right spicy level.

As we had finished this the waiters let our stomachs settle for a while before bringing up the main courses…
There were a choice of about forty different main courses !!
The waiter laid out three hot trays for us for the meals, as we patiently waited.
The atmosphere was just great in the restaurant and everybody was very friendly, the staff and the customers. I must say though there were more couples than groups there as it is a very well established restaurant.
Kathy's chicken tikka bhuna arrived first and looked divine, the chicken was cooked in the mild spices and mixed with peppers, onions, and served with rice on the side.
My main course arrived in a sizzler pallet for my tandori mixed grill.
I had in this grill spiced chicken tikka, lamb kebab marinated in mint sauce, lemon spiced prawns, all mixed with onions, peppers, and had special fried rice as well as another nan bread on the side !
There were also a lot of freebees included such as nan bread, and bolied rice, you could also have a vegetable curry if you wished !

No doubt about it, this was the best Indian meal I have ever tasted, the chicken was spiced and cooked to perfection, the lamb very succulent, the prawns bursting with flavour, and even the peppers and onions were nicely flavoured to go down well.
Both the meals though were spiced to how we liked them and you really couldn't choose any better.
After this magnificent feast we honestly couldn't eat desert so I got the bill.
I was very surprised as it was only £41 for the two of us including drinks as well ! I found this amazing value for all of what we had eaten and drank.
To top it all off though we found the surroundings very pleasant, the staff helpful curtious, and the food magnificent, the price was unbeatable and I would definitely recommend this to anybody living or visiting the Milton Keynes area in the near future.

I hope this review has been a help to some of you out there who live nearby or are planning to visit in the near future.
 

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