Surya Restaurant
Ceintuurbaan 147
Amsterdam
+31 20 676 7985

Top 3 reasons you should visit Surya:

1. Spare me the India you see:  it does not have hastily crafted Ganesh statues, bad ethnic prints and distastefully made Rajasthani dolls. Neither does it play sad Indian sounding numbers with too much sitar and flute, or ghazals (cliche fest), the decor is elegant, the music easy, and the Indian influences subtle, think a brocade cushion rather than a kitsch kitchen. Their house wine is served in beautiful goblets not silver harem glasses.

2. Food baby: A restaurant that tweets pictures of how the food you eat is cooked has my vote – also it lands up making me hungry on most days. Must try menu items: Momos, chai (I almost wept, a good steaming cup of desi chai as the snowflakes came down – how long I had waited for this taste on my tongue), Gurkha chicken, mutton biryani.

3. No, this is my table: You can have a conversation, unlike most Amsterdam restaurants, Surya has space, the manner in which they have set up the tables gives diners privacy and peace.

Surya is a pleasant experience,their staff has a balanced air about them – not brusque European ‘disservice’ nor the overwhelming presence of overdone hospitality. They give you the space, time, ambiance to enjoy a good meal. 4.5 out 5 stars. I remove .5 stars for them not delivering to my house. This restaurant is a ‘keeper’.

Average price of meal for one person with a drink: 30-35 euros
Star rating: 4.5 out of 5