I tried Preston’s award winning vegetarian Indian spot, RK Dining and I was blown away by the flavours!

RK Dining scooped an award at last year’s Good Food Awards so I decided to go and see if it lived up to its name.

The restaurant, located on Plungington Road, Preston, was the stand-alone winner in the cafe category for central Lancashire, last year, winning the Blue Ribbon award.

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Formerly known as RK Sweets, it has been a vegetarian hotspot since 2018, offering authentic Indian cuisine that is purely vegetarian, with some vegan options available too. 

The shop itself is divided into two halves. The left side is given to the booming takeaway business and the right side has seating for customers who would prefer to eat in, so I found a table and sat down to look at the menu.

Being an authentic Indian spot, I was expecting the menu to feature typical dishes from this cuisine yet it was much more extensive and varied than that.

With every dish being vegetarian or vegan you would think the mean would be limited yet it featured plenty of options that were divided into groups such as Street Food, Indo-Chinese, and Traditional Dishes. 

Wanting to delve into some authentic Indian street food, I asked the staff what they would recommend and they said one of their most popular dishes was their Punjabi Samosas.

So taking this recommendation, I ordered these to start and I was surprised at the size of the portion as it saw four large samosas and a side of mint yoghurt come out for just £4.

Filled with spiced potatoes, mixed vegetables and onions, these were the perfect start to the meal as all the ingredients were cooked beautifully and the authentic species really shone through.

Accompanied with the refreshing mint yoghurt, I could see why these were a customer favourite at RK Dining.

Next up I decided to go for a side of their Masala Chips which were fries tossed in RK’s special spicy sauce.

Now these were fine, nothing too special as the sauce took away from the crispiness of the chips and the sauce was on the sweeter side but a nice twist on your traditional portion of chips.

Onto the main course and I normally always have a curry with some kind of meat in so this was new to me but I decided to go for their Masala Paneer.

I was expecting to miss some kind of chicken or lamb in the dash yet the combination of peppers, tomatoes, onions and lightly fried golden cubes of paneer made for a delightful surprise.

For £8 the meal also came with three rotis, perfect for mopping up the beautiful curry and taught me that maybe vegetarian food isn't always so bland.

Overall I would highly recommend RK Dining for anyone in Preston looking to expand their palette and try some authentic Indian street food.

Starter: 4/5

Main: 4.5/5

Side: 2.5/5

Service: 5/5

Price: 4/5

Total: 20/25