Dhonia

148 Tollington Park, N4 3AD

We love Dhonia. This is our local Indian restaurant, and I really think we would be quite bereft if anything ever changed there.

It's definitely not the busiest restaurant in the area, and we are quite baffled by that. It does great Indian food, lovely staff and good, reliable delivery. What more could you want?

Elvis?

For a while now, they've been doing a bi-monthly Elvis night, with Sal, an Elvis tribute artist. Honestly, I initally, internally poo-pooed the idea. But it kept going, and I thought - this must be doing OK for them. So I tried to book a table. Fully booked out! Apparently most people rebook on the night for the next time, so tables are very limited.

Well, that was it. I wanted in. So we booked about four months ahead, and anticipated an excellent night in dull and miserable January 2010. Despite such a build up, Sal did not disappoint, and we had one of the funnest evenings I think we will have all year.

The Menu:
The deal is £20 per head for the meal and Elvis - drinks and poppadoms are extra. I thought it would be a set meal, so was surprised but delighted to be offered a choice of set starters (meat or vegetarian), but then any main and side from the normal menu, with rice or nan. So we could have one of our many favourites from the specials. Yum!

Our Night:
We sat down and 7pm, Sal started at 8pm and didn't stop (except a 20 minute break in the middle) until after 11pm. And he was brilliant. A really, really great entertainer. And the restaurant staff were fab too. There was no dip in the quality, they were still doing take-away and delivery, and despite have a table of 16, the food came out promptly and in good time.

Dhonia is quite intimate. Not squashed, but if somebody had told me Sal would be highkicking his way through some songs, I'd have wondered how. But he did. Not only that but people were up dancing. By the end of the night, after the big table left, we were all up dancing.

What we liked:
The food and staff, as ever. And Sal ... he was just brilliant. And the looks on the faces of the couple who came in for a take-away. They were just a little bemused.

What we didn't like:
Nothing - it was all great fun.

Will we be back?:
Just try and stop us ...