A tangy treat at the Lemon Tree; tastetest.

Nicola Selby at Lemon Tree, Penrhyndeudraeth S

O, what does a girl who's either been pregnant or breastfeeding for the last three years really fancy for dinner? Easy - an Indian.

Fortunately for me there's a new Bangladeshi restaurant just opened in Penrhyndeudraeth and with the babysitting help of our next door neighbour Janice, we're off for a night out on our own.

We like to eat fairly early and we didn't want the kids waiting up for us so we were at the restaurant by 7pm.

Located just off the crossroads in Penrhyndeudraeth, the new Lemon Tree restaurant is warm and welcoming with cunningly hidden neon lights in the ceiling and Indian music in the background.

The dining room is quite small but comfortably sits about 30 guests on a variety of different sized tables.

There is also a small waiting area by the window for takeaway customers.

The proprietor has other restaurants across the region and mid Wales, with Dolgellau and Borth among them.

Having dined at Dolgellau before now we are assured of a warm welcome and good food. The wine list has a variety of old and new world wines, reasonably priced and my husband chose a glass of Shiraz and I, being the driver for the night had a J2O.

The menu offers a vast array of mostly unpronounceable dishes, which leaves you feeling you really ought to try them all to do them justice.

The chefs use fresh ingredients and imported spices to cook dishes from scratch and produces food ranging from mild korma to blazing vindaloo.

We had papadums and pickles while our food was being prepared.

I love the mango chutney they serve here and my husband and I happily spent 20 minutes fighting over the pickle carousel.

Being a traditionalist, I ordered a prawn cocktail to start, which came in a curiously-shaped fluted glass.

The Marie rose sauce was delicious and the salad was crisp and sweet but I have to say the prawns, while copious in number, were tasteless.

My husband, being more adventurous than me, chose the king prawn suka. This came with a side order of bread and looked not unlike caviar.

He said it was spicy but sweet and very tasty indeed. Both starters came with fresh lemon wedges and side salad.

For my next course I chose a chicken tikka mosala, a Lemon Tree Tandoori Special. I like to order food I know I like, rather than risk spoiling an evening out. My husband chose a chicken dhansak from the Balti range of dishes.

These took a few minutes to arrive as they are finished off by the side of the table and transferred to a baby bainsmarie on the table. My initial reaction on seeing my bright red bubbling dish was 'What have I ordered?' Seeing my reaction, the proprietor told me this particular dish was coloured to . High Penrhyndeudraeth, LL48 6BN, 770283 reassure Britons it was "real Indian food". I have to admit I'm not sure whether to take that as an insult or not.

The food itself was perfect. Quite sweet, spicy enough to warm your mouth without burning, pungent but not overwhelming and accompanied by pilau rice and a peshwari naan.

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The chicken dhansak was not brightly coloured, instead a vague brownish colour, this explains the proprietor's earlier comments perhaps. Described as "a sweet and sour dish, with lentils and pineapple", my husband's description was: piquant and quite spicy, fresh but not sour, overall - very nice indeed thank you very much.

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By the time we had given in on the main course, all I really wanted was a pistachio kulfi but there were none, so the head chef prepared an exquisitely ripe mango for me which cleansed the palate a treat. I even let hubby share.

All in all a most enjoyable evening out, "sans les enfants".

the bill drinks pounds 4.80 prawn cocktail pounds 2.80 king prawn pounds 4.95 poppadom and pickles pounds 3.00 chicken tikka mossala pounds 6.50 chicken tikka dhansak pounds 6.05 basmati pilau rice pounds 2.15 plain naan and garlic naan pounds 4.30 the facts Opening Times Open seven days a week 12pm-2pm Sun-Thurs: 5.30pm-11.30pm Fri/Sat: 5pm-12.00am Parking on street or public car park Disabled access not good, a tight fit Service exceptional Overall a grand evening out Gromit!

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The Lemon Tree offers a full range of Indian dishes in comfortable surroundings Pictures: ROBERT PARRY JONES