Dhoom, Dunfermline

In the restaurant game, as in the game of life, a touch of self confidence is no bad thing. But what about a proclamation that you are the Best Indian Streatery in the Country.? Well we'll be the judges of that, the we including the very lovely MY-F, an all too irregular member of the Tom Eats! gang.

The menu choices could be a little confusing so for once I'm glad to have some explanation. Of all the charming people we encounter, our principal contact is Vishwas. And, praise be, the dreaded phrase, can I explain the concept of the menu? never once leaves his lips. The simple query as to whether we have dined here before is quite sufficient. As the man says, Dhoom is not your usual Indian restaurant.

But it is authentically Indian. So many of the flock wall paper brigade were set up by folk from Bangladesh or Pakistan. That's a bit like expecting a chef from Poland to be an expert in Sicilian cuisine. Chef proprietor Dhaneshwar Prasad's focus is on the food of Chennai, the Tamil Nadu capital which we used to know as Madras. There are two tasting menus, one being a 10 course job which specialised in Chennai cuisine. I use the past tense, as Vishwas said it now changes regularly, focussing on different regions. The website makes no mention of this, so I may be mistaken.

There is an a la carte (on which you will find no Chicken Bhuna or Lamb Rogan Josh) but we were sold on the 7 course tasting menu which is available only at lunchtime. To paraphrase an ad for M & S, this is not just a tasting menu (hurray), it is an Indian Street Food Taster Menu, with little titbits from all over the subcontinent. Six of them in total, then you finish with a main course of your choice from a selection of eight, served with rice and bread.

Let's start with the very few quibbles. Each of the first five plates comprises just a bite or two. (That's not the quibble.) Quite why chef feels that you then need a palate cleanser is beyond me. A mouthful of sorbet is always a pleasure - but a palate cleanser this was not: it was a sweet. I usually avoid desserts in European places, partly because I'm often full, but mostly to cut calories: in eastern restaurants I avoid them because, to my palate, they are likely to be disgusting. All I can say about the Haulle Haulle/Coconut Ladoo is that the sauce was nice, the coconut lollipop less so.

But to the OK, the good and the very good. The Aloo Bhaji which kicked things off was fine, though it had been sitting for a while. The Chicken 65 Chaat, crispy chicken in a garlic sauce, was a bit over done, but Vishwas amused us by recounting the possible reasons for the name. Some of the finest bites were the most unlikely sounding. Kappa Vadai translates as  tapioca vadas, a vada being a type of fritter. Terrific, as was the Crispy Punjabi Lamb, in the form of a spring roll. Each elegantly presented plate had two, sometimes three sauces, ensuring that every mouthful activated all of one's taste buds.

I forget what was in them all. Not a great deal of heat involved, but there was coconut, light spicing and, my new squeeze, tamarind. MY-F hasn't used it. Taste that!  I cried, licking a delicate line on the side of the Chickpea Kotlet. Tamarind, I was certain. No, said Vishwas, that's made from berries. It's a Parsi dish, meaning it originated in Persia. That sparked off a blether about so called cultural appropriation, and the way foods travelled across the globe. (I think we got involved with the Moghal Empire at some point.) That kept us going through the main courses, a fish mango curry and an interesting smoked aubergine concoction. Next thing we noticed it was 3.30 and the room, which had been busy at 1, was almost empty.

You get used to the daft decor, but going to the loo you have to do a double take at the couple of tables which look like they're inside a tuk tuk. Makes you smile, as does almost everything about this place. MY-F has booked a large table for her birthday. Very appropriate, as dhoom is Hindi for celebration. Oh to be 35 again.