Malikas

I've eaten in and had takeaways here countless times and love the food. I've just ordered a delivery now & can't wait till it turns up. The staff are very friendly and when eating in, me and my boyfriend have often been offered a free drink at the end of the meal! You can't find a Podina curry on many menus and it's amazing. I'm loving the chicken Sag at the moment. The chicken madras is of course spicy but also really tasty, often you just taste heat with madras but this one definitely doesn't lack flavour. I've been in Cowley for about 7 years now and I can't say enough good things about this place. I don't go anywhere else for a curry. YUM!

siany (Unverified), 16/03/12

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I ate there on 12th March as a sole diner very early in the evening. I generally eat Indian at least twice a month and this was one of the best I have had in a long long time. I chose one of the house specials - Chicken Khandari with Mushroom rice and it was excellent.

I live in Coventry but would certainly consider returning to Oxford to experience again. Thank you Malikas!

Mr T (Unverified), 14/03/12

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This is my favourite Indian restuarant in Oxford. The food is consistently good, and the service second to none. Although the prices are slightly higher than when it was Jaipur, the food and service - not to mention beautiful decor - make this excellent value for money.

Amanda (Unverified), 19/02/12

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I love this restaurant. In Oxford we are spoilt for choice when it comes to Indian restaurants, and we have some good ones. Malikas is my favourite for the following reasons:

1) The food is great, always, without fail.

2) The service is second to none. On my birthday, the staff arranged balloons and cake as a surprise. On another occasion we made a large take-away order for delivery and recieved an amazing service whereby they went above and beyond to honour us as customers. No matter what occasion though, every time my friends and I have been to Malikas, we have recieved excellent service and felt very well looked after.

Five stars, and then some.

Oxfordism (Unverified), 02/02/12

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If you were a fan of Jaipur do not be put off by the name change. It still has the same staff and most importantly the same chef! (I don't think they have done a very good job of making this clear).

Anyway, I have tried most of the Indians around Cowley Road and in my opinion Jaipur/Malikas is the best. The staff are very polite and friendly and the food is great.

Also seems to be the only place to give you 3 different sauces and onion salad with your poppadoms when you order a takeaway.

Oli (Unverified), 21/10/11

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Jaipur has now reopened as Malikas after refurbishment.

D I Staff (Unverified), 07/09/11

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Never fails to provide superb quality of service and food whether eating in house or home delivery. 1st class.

22/12/10

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Best chicken tikka masala on Cowley Road!

Roz (Unverified), 16/07/10

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We have eaten twice at Jaipur's and can't fault it. The food has been delicious on both occasions and notably tastier than some of the others we've been to in Oxford. The service is really good and the staff are very friendly, attentive and unobtrusive. We've eaten Lamb Ada, Chicken Balti, Lamb Pathia with rice and peshwari naans. The Tarka Dahl and Sag Dahl are particularly yum. Definitely recommend Jaipur.

Randolphians (Unverified), 01/07/10

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A great place to dine in, excellent service, food is lush and the atmosphere is great too. Staff are very friendly and chatty but I know a lot of them anyway! My fave place for takeaways every now and then. Lamb biryani is really good and tasty although I prefer it much hotter then how they usually make it! Naan breads are very tasty and go really well with a extra HOT lamb vindaloo! I love it and would highly recommend it to everyone! :-)

lushy (Unverified), 11/04/10

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Cracking service and delicious food, what more can you ask for? We recently enjoyed a lovely meal here early in the week, staff were very attentive and always friendly, which made for a lovely atmosphere. The starters were delicious, and our main courses were lovely – my prawn sag was huge, fresh and perfectly flavoured, and the garlic naan that accompanied it was hot and fresh. My friends enjoyed a chicken biryani and a chieckn madras, both of which were again huge, and delicious.

All in all a delightful place for a curry in the Cowley area.

ALS (Unverified), 12/03/10

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We went to this restaurant last night and it was ok! I have been living in oxford for 30 yrs+ and have tried all the restaurants and keep trying them. (I go out 4 times a week). But I have to say this place hasn't done it for me. I preferred the newer restaurant on the Cowley Road, Majliss. I have been going there once a week (on my weekly visits to the curry houses down Cowley Road), and I have never had a bad visit.

25/12/09

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Great tasting food with great telephone service and free poppadoms and sauces added in! We ordered on a busy Friday night but food still arrived in the 40mins they quoted. The guy taking the order was very friendly making general chit-chat.

We ordered a chicken vindaloo, chicken jafrezi, naans, and olive rice. You get a free poppadom with each curry but extras were thrown in with mango chutney, mint and chilli sauce.

Team Mess (Unverified), 18/12/09

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Our experience suggests that the standards described below are being maintained. Our party of four arrived at 9pm on a Thursday. We were invited to sit while a waiter prepared a suitable table. Even in this one got the distinct impression of people prepared to take a little longer to do something properly.

We declined poppadoms in favour of starters, and ordered two Prawn Puris and a Dahi Wada (lentil cakes). They took a little while to arrive - I was just starting to look around hungrily - but all three were generous, well presented, and well flavoured.

For mains, we had an Ada Chicken Tikka, (cooked with ginger), a Chicken Jalfrezi, a Prawn Sag, and a Khodu Ghost (lamb with pumpkin). In the accessories department we shared two plain rice, a mushroom rice, a Peshwari Nan and a side of Sag Paneer.

The mains came without any great delay, the presentation was again excellent and the quantity was perfect. Seasoned Cowley Road diners all, our consensus was that while nothing was so exceptional that we were particularly startled, everything was just nicely above average quality.

Most importantly the service was friendly, calm, humourous and unobtrusive. A friend came in at the end of the meal and stayed to chat for a few minutes, and so an extra chocolate came with the bill.

With 6 or 7 Kingfishers between us the bill came to just under £20 a head, which we thought eminently reasonable. Starters were £3-£5, mains £7-£10. Overall we had the feeling of a restaurant making a genuine effort to provide good food and a good experience. Recommended.

Ian Threadgill (Unverified), 23/10/09

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I love this place! It was recommended by a friend of mine who said the service and food was fantastic. He said even his girlfriend was impressed and she is usually critical of Indian resturants being Indian herself. He usually goes for the the lunch meal deal. He's gone there ever since and so have I.

I have takeaways and collect the food as it's then 10% off the price. The food portions are a good size and sometimes there's extra food in the bag at no extra price! They are so so friendly.
Having lived on Cowley Road now for about 5 years and trying the majority of resturants on the road, this is definitely my choice when going for an Indian.

01/08/09

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Had a delivery from Jaipur on Friday night. It arrived 65 minutes later instead of 30 mins. Unfortunately it was not really hot enough and had too much oil in it which was disappointing. However our lamb vindaloo and lamb bhuna were very tasty. Reasonably priced.

Goosey Lucy (Unverified), 04/07/09

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I went with 2 friends to the Jaipur for a meal last night. We ordered the banquet (£18.50 per person) and it was absolutely fantastic - food was excellent and plenty of it. Staff very welcoming and friendly - would definitely recommend this restaurant to all friends and family. Well worth it....

Lady T (Unverified), 27/05/09

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On 14th February I took my parents for dinner at the Jaipur. It was very impressive, I must admit. On arrival they greeted us, took us to a very stylish table. The presentation on the table was very fresh, candle lit, fresh red rose, so we carried on with our drinks and poppadoms. In no time we were served with drinks and poppadoms along with range of chutneys, although the restaurant was heaving with customers waiting at the bar for takeaway. After five minutes of receiving our poppadoms we were approched by a waiter who took our food order, he made us feel very relaxed as if we have been in this restaurant for years although they have been trading for only 4 months.
Our food order was Murgh Nowabi, Rampuri Kofta Massala, Jaipuri Duck, each dish was garnished pretty well and the flavour was very rich with mouth watering taste.
You can feel the service and it's just not for us it's for everyone who walks in this restaurant, very welcoming. My parents were rather pleased that they wanted to thank the owner for everything. I recommend you won't be disappointed.

26/02/09

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This is a outstanding restaurant to got to for a weekday lunch. For £5 you get any of their classic main dishes, rice and naan. Very good quality too - tasty and not too oily. Service has usually been very good too.

Richard (DI User), 21/02/09

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Really nicely presented and, on the whole, very tasty little starters; good solid main courses. Stylish setting, despite the cheesy sax classics for the background muzak; fresh flowers on the tables; no expense spared on the nice white linen and chunky silver cutlery either. Complimentary drinks (possibly because we were new customers, possibly just because they're nice like that?), polite and friendly service (though we were left alone for rather long periods - our meal took about 3 hours all in!); free refill on our basket of papadum pieces (they're so much easier to eat that way). All in all - a decent new upmarket addition to the Cowley Road Indian restaurant strip - pleasingly populated by couples and friends rather than the vast, noisy student hoardes that frequent (and often ruin) many local competitors. I expect we'll be making a return visit.

Roo (DI Reviewer), 09/02/09

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We gave this place a try after meeting a friendly taxi driver who said it was his family's place. We went on a Friday evening and didn't need to book, although it did start filling up after about 8pm. It is small, but we quite liked the decor, the service was pretty good and there is a good selection on the menu.

The popadoms and sauces were very good (similar to what the Aziz serves) and we shared a starter of an egg and chickpea dish which was lovely and a big portion (but slighly bizarrely sprinkled with crushed up popdadom!). The mains were very generous with the meat and although my boyfriend said his chicken balti tasted a bit 'generic' my chicken sag (spinach dish) was very good and tasted fresh. Good choice of rices and breads.

Only complaint was dreadful piped muzak! Made up for by the free drink at the end (we chose a brandy and a grand marnier), which was a nice touch. Apart from that a nice enough addition to the Cowley Road, but not ground breaking.

Kath East Oxford (DI User), 01/02/09

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This is now my favourite Indian restaurant on the Cowley Road. The food tastes fresh and unoily, the atmosphere is modern but still Indian and the staff are really friendly and helpful. Highly recommend it.

19/01/09

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Jaipur is a welcomed addition to Oxford's list of Indian restaurants. It is a stylish place, a modern and young Indian restaurant that thrives on its atmosphere. The staff are extremely attentive and take the needs of their customers seriously. When we recently visited, our waiter had the time to have a chat with us and what I thought was particularly nice was the way in which the other waiter treated the family sitting at the table next to us. In addition to the grown ups, the kids were enjoying their whole evening - the waiter took the time to talk to them and joke and laugh together with the whole family.

However, while the interior and service in this place is impeccable, the absolute star of the Jaipur experience for us was the chef. We had Bonoful Murgh and Ada Murgh. The dishes were presented nicely on white plates and we were able to start the meal with our eyes. The dishes were wonderfully seasoned and the different tastes worked really well together. The mango and lychee complemented the succulent chicken excellently providing a rather sensual taste combination, while in the Ada the ginger and other spices provided more of an edge and even a bit of a kick. For me one of the key indicators of the quality of the place was the nan, which was exceptionally tasty.

Overall, this was a great all round experience and we will certainly repeat this in the very near future. Jaipur is what Oxford has been missing - an elegant, friendly, contemporary Indian restaurant with a relaxed and fun atmosphere! It's worth a try.

dralbion (Unverified), 09/01/09

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