Moja is a Bengali restaurant in the Centre of Huddersfield near the parish church on St Peter's Street. It is an easy walk from both the train and bus stations, but on a quiet Tuesday evening we parked nearby on the road.

As regular visitors to Kirklees' many and varied curry houses we were interested to try a new one and see what a Bengali restaurant had to offer.

Moja is a classic example of appearances being deceptive. From the outside it looks like an old fashioned, small curry house above a taxi office. As you open the glass doors, however, you begin to think again and then at the top of the stairs a modern, airy, well decorated restaurant opens before you. The dining room fills the first floor of the building and has enough room to seat about 60 people. If you want to eat with friends they have a large round table in the corner that can seat twelve, much friendlier than being stretched out over smaller tables pushed together.

The restaurant is decorated in a contemporary style with warm colours and subtle Asian touches, if it's flock wallpaper and gilding that you want then I suggest you try elsewhere. Similarly the music was set at a volume that added to the ambience without interfering with conversation.

The menu has all of your favourite meat and vegetarian dishes, so our friend who always has Chicken Jalfrezi - Extra Hot will be happy. but also a number of Bengali specialities. During the week there is also a set menu giving you a choice from eight starters and eight main courses, both meat and vegetarian, with rice or a nan for a very reasonable £9.

We started in the traditional way with the pickle tray with some papadoms. When the pickles arrived the first thing we noticed was the use of a porcelain dish rather than the typical stainless steel rack, but more important was the flavour, my friend even liked the yoghurt based one.

Ordering from the main menu I started with onion bhajis, one of my favourites. They were served as I prefer them, crisp round balls rather than flat patties, and clearly freshly fried. I think I just heard them going in to the pan with that lovely sizzling sound. My friend ordered the Fish Masal, a cod fillet coated in masala spices and fried, tasty but the spices did tend to overwhelm the fish.

As Moja does not have a licence we had a jug of water and a diet coke. They have a wide selection of soft drinks, including two alcohol free beers, Cobra and Becks. You are welcome to bring your own, however. We stuck to a jug of water and a diet Coke.

For the main course I chose a Fish Karai, cod cooked with spices and then stir fried with onions and tomato. It is was medium strength but full of flavour and well presented

My friend chose another Bengali dish, Chicken Jaal Jool, which is cooked with garlic, spices, tomato and a Bengali chilli called naga. Again packed with flavour, but he discovered that the waiter had been serious when he said it was fairly hot.

We accompanied the meals with a portion of Pilau rice and a plain nan. The nan was excellent being light and fluffy, tearing easily and soaking up the sauce very well.

The service too was very good, being that right combination of welcoming, friendly, knowledgeable about the food, there when you wanted but not intrusive. Perhaps they should give lessons to other restaurants. The linen napkins were also a welcome touch, they certainly stay on my lap better than paper ones.

After the main meal we cleaned our hands with the traditional hot towels (I wish that non-Asian restaurants would take this up) and then ordered two glasses of Lassi. An excellent way to finish the meal, Moja's tasting freshly prepared with a lovely mango flavour, that as my lightweight friend found soothes the palate wonderfully.

The meal, which included papadoms and pickle tray, two starters, two main courses, a diet Coke and two glasses of Lassi came to just over £25, which we felt was very reasonable.

The restaurant is located upstairs in an older building with access only via the stairs so disabled access is difficult. Moja is open every evening except Monday.

To sum up, good food, with good service in good surroundings at a good price I will certainly be back.

Visit their website: www.mojarestaurant.co.uk

To see this restaurant on Virtual Huddersfield click here > Moja

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