Seriously posh nosh

In much the same way as time spent working at one of Marco Pierre White's establishments gets pride of place on an implausible number of chefs' CVs, so time spent at Bukhara is seen by many to be unimpeachable provenance for Indian chefs.

The Bukhara restaurant in the Maurya Sheraton, New Delhi, has been highly rated for over a decade, and despite its large dining room, there's often a queue for tables.

The signature dishes are kebabs and the fabled Bukhara dal. This is a simple lentil dish made with black urid dal and huge amounts of cream and butter - it is very good to eat, despite your arteries twitching nervously with every spoonful. So any new Indian restaurant that claims to have recruited no less than four chefs from the Bukhara is certainly worth an investigative trip.

Rezala opened during the autumn of 2004 and is a few doors along from the area's long-established gastronomic pinnacle - the slick fish and chip shop called Sea Pebbles. Make no mistake, Rezala is a very posh Indian restaurant indeed.

There's an elaborate lighting system, table decorations, flowers, modern furniture, attentive staff and large copper base plates in front of each diner. Plus a lengthy wine list.

The thrust of all this is that you are to enjoy the kind of food perfected by the chefs to the Nawabs in Northern India - the royal kitchens specialised in Dum Phukt cooking, which is a style of biryani cooked in a sealed pot. Doubtless the Nawabs wouldn't have flinched however high the price tag, but for Hatch End the prices at Rezala seem a little fierce. That said, the standard of cooking is high.

Start with some kebabs. Peshavari kebab is a straightforward lamb kebab, although the promised seasoning of royal cumin proves elusive. Hariyali murgh is a piece of chicken with a green herb marinade and reshmi kebab is minced chicken with a waft of ginger. Team your kebabs with the very sound, flaky and buttery lacchi paratha.

The main course dishes confirm the regal aspirations of the kitchen. High-class Indian chefs - particularly those who have worked in the better hotel kitchens - tend to be obsessed with finely ground spices and really smooth sauces.

Dishes like avadhi chop have just such a sauce - somewhat overcooked lamb chops come in a rich and smooth gravy, with a spike of black pepper. Or there's murgh bemisaal - chicken pieces from the tandoor end up in a thick sweetish sauce. The Rezala dal is a direct descendent of the Bukhara dal - rich, but perhaps not quite as over the top as in Delhi. In Middlesex they hold back on the butter.

The best dish (and coincidentally the cheapest of the main courses - it is even cheaper than the dal!) is the dum pukht ghoshte biryani. This comes to table in a pot that has been sealed with a strip of dough - inside you'll find a fragrant mix of basmati rice and chunks of lamb. The rice takes on both the flavour of the lamb and the slivers of fresh ginger. The spicing of this dish is perfectly balanced so that it is rich and light at the same time.