What to expect at new Indian buffet restaurant in Reading

The Chilis restaurant occupies a unit on the upper level of The Village Mall, which was previously known as King’s Walk.

Diners can expect a selection of curries during dinner service, four with meat and four suitable for vegetarians including dhal (lentil) and chana (chickpea) dishes.

Four curries are served at lunch, two with meat, two without, with the usual naan bread, poppadoms and starters, such as tandoori chicken and masala fish.

A TV plays Indian music videos in the background to add to the atmosphere.

Anjan Vonteddu, manager said: “It’s going really good. We’ve go great support from the people.

“The main thing is we’re very much happy to do parties.

“Our last week was completely booked with parties, so 40-50 people.”

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Krishna Vangala, who also works at Chilis, said : “The whole menu we replace everyday.

“Once or twice you may get the same dishes, but most of the time it will change.

The curries and starters such as masala fish and tandoori chicken available for lunch at Chilis buffet restaurant in The Village mall, Reading. Credit: James Aldridge, Local Democracy Reporting Service

“We’ve got very authentic, regional dishes which we can’t keep in our fine dining restaurant, so those dishes are available at the buffet.

“That’s the reason we chose the buffet, so we can give something different to the people.”

The Chilis team said is willing to take dish requests from those who book, as well as a la carte menu items available at their first restaurant at the Newbury Station Approach which opened in 2010.

The self service veg at the Chilis buffet restaurant in The Village mall, Reading. Credit: James Aldridge, Local Democracy Reporting Service

They are also hoping in the approach to Christmas to accommodate party bookings and said the team is happy to decorate the restaurant and are open to DJs playing in the future – however, that may require an adaptation to their licence.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service has covered Chilis since it applied to sell alcohol in the summer.

It won permission sell alcohol from 9am to 11pm each day in October.

The successful application means the restaurant can sell a range of beers, ales, ciders, wines and spirits, as well as soft drinks.

The well stocked bar inside Chilis buffet restaurant in The Village mall, Reading. Credit: James Aldridge, Local Democracy Reporting Service

Chilis is open 12pm-2.30pm for lunch and 6pm-9pm for dinner from Tuesday to Sunday.

The unit they took over used to be occupied by the Art of Siam, which closed there in December 2015 and has been empty ever since.

Chilis successfully opened on Tuesday, November 1.

It is not the only new kid on the block in The Village either, as the Bombay Brothers Indian restaurant is due to open on the ground floor of the mall.

Ahead of its opening, Bombay Brothers has applied to build a kitchen extraction unit, which can be found on the council’s planning website using reference 221363.