Lily’s Vegetarian Indian Cuisine

The Sachdev family's neighbourhood restaurant can trace its roots in Ashton back to 1972, when an entirely vegetarian Indian restaurant must have seemed distinctly avant-garde to those only familiar with high-street curry houses. Since then, generations of cooks with roots in the regional cuisines of the Subcontinent have helped elevate Lily's to its current status, while a shop counter teeming with indigenous ingredients and sweetmeats is an indispensable part of the allure. The place is held in high esteem locally, and a confirmed regular applauds everything from the crisp vegetable samosas (with a good kick of chilli) and the masala dosa (with decent sambar and coconut chutney) to a substantial serving of delicious papdi chaat stirred through with sharp tamarind chutney. Among the main courses, the vegetable jaipuri (a Rajasthani dish) features a torrent of finely diced veg with cashews and grated paneer in a creamy tomato sauce. Top-notch accompaniments include various uttapam pancakes and Gujarati roti slippy with ghee. Rasgulla and gulab jamun feature on the dessert list, for the incorrigibly sweet of tooth; otherwise, tripti bhog is a mind-blowingly rich paneer-and-nut creation worth trying. There are enlivening spicy cocktails too.