I felt like I spent an evening in India when I went to a newly opened Indian restaurant in Richmond.

Richmond Spice Bar & Indian Restaurant is on 118 Sheen Road, and I went there with my mum for a midweek meal out.

From the moment I stepped in, I felt as though we were no longer in Richmond but had walked into a restaurant in India itself.

We could smell the spices from the kitchen in the atmosphere and were welcomed by the owner Suman as he took our coats and scarves and gave us a choice of where to sit.

The seating itself was comfortable as it was all velvet and smooth.

The first thing that caught my eye in the restaurant was the large and assuring sign that read "count the memories, not the calories.”

Suman was on hand with our drinks straight away and appeared to be managing the entire dining room by himself flawlessly.

I ordered garlic rice with butter chicken, while my mum went for the fish curry with raita, which is a really creamy and cooling yoghurt that is drizzled onto the curry, and rice with cumin.

The garlic rice and butter chicken complimented each other beautifully and were rich in flavour.

The restaurant was great at catering to my mum’s preferences, such as upping the spice of the lady’s fingers she ordered.

What really stood out to me was that everything felt authentic, from the dishes themselves to the plates and cutlery.

The little bowls that had the chutneys in for our poppadoms were made of copper, and the cutlery had decorative Indian patterns on them too.

My mum and I both agreed that our favourite was the peshwari naan, with my mum saying it was “very nice with the sesame seeds.”

My mum also enjoyed the raita so much that by the end she was eating it out of the bowl.

By the end of the meal, we were full, but I was still able to find space for dessert and had an authentic Indian dessert: malai ice cream.

The ice cream was at perfect temperature; not too frozen to give you brain freeze but not melting to the point it became ice cream soup.

The chef Mr Sharma did an amazing job with each dish and sundry.

We left after three great hours at the restaurant and had the post-meal exhaustion on the way home.

Suman even held up our coats for us to put them on, making us feel like royalty.

If you’re looking for a truly authentic Indian restaurant, then Richmond Spice Bar and Indian Restaurant is for you.