NESTLED in between trendy newcomers to the Hamlet Court Road eating scene, Masala Hut with its Eastern decor is a veritable institution.

The canteen-style restaurant has operated for ten years from the same venue, but is every bit as vibrant and welcoming as its newer neighbours, and has quite a following.

It is not surprising the unlicensed restaurant is popular, given the reasonable prices and quality of food on offer, with the added bonus for those of us counting pennies in the current economic climate of being able to bring in our own drinks.

On my previous visit when we had celebrated a friend's birthday one Saturday night at the restaurant, it was packed to the gills.

This time it was a Friday night when I met with five friends at the restaurant and we pretty much had the place to ourselves, except for a few couples.

But on both occasions what struck me about Masala Hut was the genuine service with a smile from staff who appear to enjoy taking care of customers with no request seemingly too much of a bother.

The menu offers a good choice including plenty of vegetarian options. The chefs in the open kitchen are also able to tailor dishes to requirement and helpful in explaining the dishes.

We ordered five mains - a chicken rogan, fish jalfrezi, lamb tikka dansak, bangan bertha, and a daal special.

Although each came with its own distinctive flavour and texture, strangely everything we ordered was in a sauce of an almost identical shade of orange.

This may have been a coincidence and an error on our ordering techniques, but it certainly did make it awkward for the strict vegetarian among us who spent the evening trying to avoid the meat and fish dishes.

Colour aside, we all agreed the variety of flavours of the food was excellent, rich with herbs and spices, with sauces cooked from scratch. "Top Class," was how Breda described it.

The menu offers a broad range of Indian and Pakistan dishes as well as a wide choice of breads and rice.

We played safe ordering mushroom rice and vegetable rice, but other more exotic types are on offer including lemon rice.

But we pushed the boat out with the breads, ordering a stuffed vegetable paratha, a tandoori roti and a keema naan.

I was soon devouring more than my fair share of the too-good-to-miss delicious freshly backed and fried breads.

The pudding menu lacked the same adventurous choice and we were too full to consider any sweets anyhow, and we were certainly satisfied by a meal out for six people for under £50.

What we ate:

Daal Special £4, Bangan Bertha £5.50, Chicken Rogan £6, Fish Jalfrezi £7, Lamb Tikka Dansak £7, Saag Paneer £4, Keema Naan £2.50, Vegetable Stuffed Paratha £3, Roti £1.30, Vegetable rice £2.50, Plain rice £2.50, Mushroom rice £3. Total: £48.30

Our verdict: Food 4 Service 5 Decor 3 Atmosphere 4 Disabled Access 5

Masala Hut 109 Hamlet Court Road Westcliff SS0 7ES Tel: 01702 437373