A vintage year for culinary awards - Sanmini's, Ramsbottom

Home to award-winning restaurants such as Ramsons, Ramsbottom's latest draw is Sanmini. Serving curries from Tamil Nadu in southern India, it is located in a Victorian gatehouse at the top of town, where Dev and Padmini Sankar have condensed their knowledge of the region's fare into a capsule menu.

With a glass of Indian shiraz, the 10-plate thali showcases their homely style with flair, while to start, dosai, appalams and idli will ring bells with those who've ventured south of Bangalore. Mains of Chettinad chicken and mutton Madras come with aniseed, chilli and coriander to spare.

The Samini restaurant was named amongst the best in the country in the 2010 Which? magazine Good Food Guide (GFG).

Sanmini’s Indian restaurant, in Ramsbottom Lane, has catapulted into the GFG as a new entry, ranking a cooking score of three — on a par with the famous Nutters in Norden — despite having only been open for a year.

Sanmini’s, the first South Indian cuisine only restaurant in the north of England, is run by the Sankar family from Ramsbottom, notably Dr Padmini Sankar, known as Mini, and her husband Dr Dev Sankar.

Son Sav, who helps run Sanmini’s, said: “We are all elated to have been recognised in the GFG because it normally takes about three of four years. We would never have imagined it a year ago. Cooking has always been my mum’s passion and dream.

Address :
7 Carrbank Lodge,
Ramsbottom Lane,
Ramsbottom
BL0 9DJ.

Telephone : 01706821831
Website : www.sanminis.com

Source : Guardian Lifestyle
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