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A South Indian restaurant in the centre of Bath is proving immensely popular, if early reviews are anything to go by.

Mantra, run by Sheetal and Prasad Vanka, opened its doors to the public on Friday (November 16).

Based where the old Clifton Sausage in the Paragon used to be, the venture has been receiving rave reviews.

Mrs Vanka said customers had said: 'We have never found an Indian restaurant like this one', '10/10', 'It is like we are in India' and 'Why weren't you open here years ago?'.

(Image: Artur Lesniak)

But what is in store for customers?

Bath Live took a look around the two-storey restaurant, which can cater for 80 people and has delightful views of the city.

What's on the menu?

Mrs and Mr Vanka, who grew up near Mumbai and Hyderabad respectively, say theirs is a predominantly a South Indian restaurant.

They say this type of cuisine is the country's most popular food, but their chefs will also prepare dishes from across other parts of India.

The majority of the dishes are gluten and dairy free, but the menu shows which dishes are and which are not.

There are three menus served daily: The lunch menu is a set menu that runs from noon until 3pm, the dinner menu is served from 5.30pm until 11pm, and there is a set dinner sharing menu at the same time.

At the start of 2019, the team hope to have an afternoon tea slot with an Indian twist and bottomless brunch is also in the works.

(Image: Artur Lesniak)

Customers can look forward to a whole host of vegan, vegetarian, meat and fish dishes as well, with appetisers, sides, and the Mantra Special Dosas - with chef improvisations.

This is a South Indian recipe, a pancake made from ground rice and pulses. There are also a selection of biryanis and a whole host of sides and appletisers.

Its main courses range from £10.95-£15.95 and include the likes of Chennai hot chicken, seabass in Goan style coconut milk sauce, Indian street food and Punjabi tandoori chicken tikka masala.

There are vegetarian dishes too, with the price range being as low as £4.95 for Daal: North Indian black lentils with tomatoes, cream and clarified butter and Paneer with chilli and mixed peppers (£9.95).

There are a selection of desserts, costing £4.95-5.95.

What can customers expect?

The couple, who also run the Jolly Sailor pub in Saltford, say Mantra will offer a lot of progressive food, home made cooking and a completely different Indian restaurant experience.

Mrs Vanka said: "I don’t think you will find any other Indian restaurant like this one.

"We have created some fusion dishes, nachos and hummus, experimenting with progressive cuisine.

"We can cater and customise to all needs. The menu is a mixture of street, progressive and traditional food.

"We are using exotic ingredients in Indian cooking, with a special fusion of proper Indian food. Our chefs have more than 40 years' worth of experience.

(Image: Artur Lesniak)

"There are a lot of different curry sauces and a great variety too. The feedback so far has been fantastic.

"People who walked in have said 10/10, another said, 'Why were you not here open for all the years?' and another couple that goes out to India said, 'It is like we are in India.'"

Mr Vanka said the hardest part was putting the menu together.

He said: "We created this menu and we are very happy with it.

"We wanted to have fresh ingredients. Nothing is frozen, the meat is locally sourced. The Dosas are our speciality. We are doing the most popular dishes from parts of the country.

(Image: Artur Lesniak)

"The hardest bit was putting the menu together. You don’t want too much to overload people on the menu.

"We are so happy with the final product. Vegan, vegetarian, gluten free, meat, fish, you name it."

The couple have four chefs and five front of house staff at the moment.

It took a couple of weeks to get the interior that they wanted.

Mrs Vanka said: "We got the artist called Snehal to come in and make it vibrant and beautiful.

"She has done a gorgeous hand made painting on the wall downstairs and we have painted the place and given it a good Indian feel.

(Image: Artur Lesniak)

"We are still waiting for planning permission to paint the outside of the restaurant but hopefully that will be sorted in a few weeks.

"We are so excited to get this off the ground. We love seeing empty and clean plates – that makes us very happy."

Typically, North Indian food uses yoghurt, cream, is non-vegetarian and prefers breads like naan, chapati and paratha.

Their southern counterparts, however, are more vegetarian-focused. They also use coconut and include more rice or rice based items.

(Image: Artur Lesniak)

The Clifton Sausage spent two years at the Paragon before closing down.

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