Thought Train Food Was Bad? You've Obviously Not Been To Patri

Forget forlornly wilted sandwiches from Boots. Forget overpriced potatoey pasties that are hotter than the sun. Forget watery tea and leathery bacon butties. Train food just got lip-smackingly wonderful, and you needn't even go near a station to enjoy it.

From the first explosion of pomegranate-peppered chat bomb, to the last juicy bite of seared paneer tikka, Patri founder Puneet Wadhwhani has created a menu that transports you to the astir stations and epic train journeys of India. While the Platform Mix Grill groans with bitesized goodies you might pick up on the go over there — think aloo samosas, and crispy paan patta chaat made with deep fried betel leaves — a platter of thali replicates the intensely flavoursome food served in train carriages — each daal, each curry cooked from scratch (some over days, not hours).

The biggest hero of all is the butter chicken; not the usual milksop of a dish you'd put up with in a paint-by-numbers Indian, but one cooked with all the spicy derring-do of the dish that originated in New Delhi. We heed the advice of our waiter, and dig into with our fingers. All part of the experience — and really, Patri is an experience.

The restaurant's not long been open, but is already fizzing — communal tables packed as tightly as a peak-hour Thameslink service. The difference is that everyone in Patri has a grin on their face.

Patri, 139 Northfields Avenue, South Ealing, W13 9QT