Mirch Masala is a vegetarian restaurant offering dishes that are fast, tasty and meat-free.

The Venue
Mirch Masala draws you in with its outdoor patio on the pedestrianised Market Street. It's a clean and tidy place, while the food looks delicious.

Indoors, Mirch Masala is spread over two similar floors. The downstairs is bright, and the deep red and pale green walls are decorated with enlarged prints of fruit.

Furnishings are simple and functional. Pale green tables are surrounded by white and green moulded plastic chairs with metal legs. Upstairs, the decor is the same but there's more privacy.

The People
Mirch Masala doesn’t just attract vegetarians. Young families, goths, Birkenstock-clad pensioners wearing T-shirts, scruffily dressed groups in their early twenties and others come here. There's even a few suits.

The food evidently sticks closely to original Indian tastes as there are small groups of Indians enjoying a genuine taste of home. Apart from the food, nothing else is Indian-inspired and the background music is contemporary and modern just like the decor.

The Food
In doing the menu, it seems the chef searched through all the vegetarian-friendly cuisines to compose a menu that incorporates typical Indian dishes, Mexican favourites and Italian traditional recipes.

Overall, Mirch Masala is more orientated towards India rather than Italy and Mexico, but the dishes are equally good, whatever you pick. Indian options include traditional dal maharani urad, saag aloo (spinach and potatoes in spices), tarka dal (lentils simmered with spices, tomatoes, ginger and garlic) and other delicacies (£4 to £5.25 for the mains). You also have matching starters and side orders to complete a full Indian meal.

Mexican options (£3.50-£6.25) are fewer but they are just as tasty. Nachos, jalapeno peppers, quesadilla supreme are just a few dishes.

If you fancy a taste of Italy (£4.75 to £6 for the mains) there's pasta, vegetable lasagne, macaroni cheese, spaghetti bolognese (with minced soy) and a selection of pizzas (£9.50 to £18). Some are traditionally Italian, while others are a fusion with Indian cuisine, like the paneer kheema pizza.

There is also a Mexi-hot pizza which makes a success of the unlikely marriage of Italian and Mexican cuisines. The great thing is that, whenever they need to, they stick to the original flavour. The food is fiercely spicy but not salty or too oily.

A tempting selection of desserts includes the Indian kulfi and gulab jambu and the continental profiteroles.

The Drink
Mirch Masala offers a great selection of beers, cleverly sourced from the same areas the food comes from. And they are even cheap at £2.75. Kingfisher and Lal Toofan are some of the Indian beers, while Tusker and White Cap are Kenyan (£3.75). From Mexico you can get Corona, Italy provides Peroni and you can even get a Chinese Tsing Tao and the more common Tiger from Singapore.

The house wine is only £1.99 a glass, with bottles priced at £9. There are varieties from Chile, south eastern Australia, Italy and South Africa.

They serve traditional cold drinks like salted lassi (£2), sweet lassi (£2.25), mango or rose lassi (£2.50), faludo (a drink based on cold milk and rose syrup - £2.75), freshly frozen fruit smoothies (£3), milkshakes (£2.50 - they serve a tasty one with passion fruit), fruit juices (£2.50 to £3) and coolers, including sugar cane, watermelon juice, and passion fruit and orange (£3).

If you feel like something hot, they serve a selection of teas and coffees. The masala tea (£1.25) and chai latte are rich in Indian flavours but they also serve all the regular types (£1.10 to £2.50). Coffees are from Ipanema, a brand with a strict environmentally friendly policy. Fair trade options are available but are not the norm at Mirch Masala. For something less healthy, head for a mainstream spirit.

The Last Word
You will walk away completely full and satisfied with a flavourful meal and with a wallet just a little lighter than when you walked in.

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