Bhoomi Restaurant in Cheltenham – Review
Business: Bhoomi
Location: 52 Suffolk Road, Cheltenham, GL50 2AQ
Date of Review: August 2017
Link to their website: Click Here
Booking the table
The Bhoomi website is easy to follow and to get around, it does look a little dated particularly on a mobile device though.
The restaurant uses an external booking software to handle their bookings which works very well and is easy to navigate. One ‘problem’ of these generic software applications is that they need to cater (excuse the food based pun) for all types of websites.
So, like in Bhoomi’s case there are a couple of extra stages to booking that are not really needed. But I’m being very picky here.
Our party of 4 has a mind field of dietary issues so can often be quite the chore when explaining them all to the restaurant.
When booking we listed them all in their comments section of the booking form, now we will wait to see if they are read.
Rating out of 5
Availability
Bhoomi in Cheltenham is very popular and it is very wise to book as far I’m advance as possible.
You are unlikely to get a table with 3 or 4 weeks.
Rating out of 5
Location
Located on the Suffolk Road in Cheltenham it isn’t in the hustle and bustle of the town itself, however it is only a short walk to Montpelier where most of the bars are.
Rating out of 5
Greeting from the staff
I always like to watch as many of the staffs faces when entering a restaurant. Their little glances to each other can often give away a lot about someone.
For Bhoomi the overriding first impression was big beaming smiles from everyone. It shouldn’t be called Bhoomi but Bheeming instead.
They made us feel very welcome and came across like they had all been waiting for us, in the same way a group of school kids would wait for a visit by the Queen. Her Maj obviously gets this greeting all the time but for me it was a nice taste of being a royal.
Rating out of 5
Decor and Atmosphere
It must be so hard to decide on the image and decor for a restaurant, and very easy for an Indian restaurant to go down the old school route of 1970’s wallpaper and net curtains (that might be a slight generalisation, I apologise).
Not the route for Bhoomi. Modern crisp with a hint of moodiness with subtle lighting and dark colours.
Well done!
Rating out of 5
The Food
Bhoomi is an Indian restaurant but not as you know it. If you are expecting an ‘all you can eat’ curry house, you will be surprised.
This is fine dining Indian style. Like Prithvi they are targeting a new style of dining and it seems that Cheltenham is becoming a mini-hub for it.
When ever possible we always go for the tasting menu, it gives us a nice feel of the quality of food over many courses. This can be a big challenge for our dietary requirements.
But not an issue at Bhoomi, they calmly offered other options for the courses which were not suitable. They couldn’t do anything more.
At time of writing I think there is only one Michelin starred restaurant in Cheltenham that I know of, although Bhoomi isn’t quite at that level yet, I can see it going that way in the next couple of years.
Rating out of 5
The Service
I touched on their service earlier when we arrived, well, nothing changed through-out our meal. The staff were attentive, knowledgeable and extremely friendly.
Now, let me report back on the BIG test, our freaky diet issues.
First success was the fact they not only read our comments when booking, the waiter knew all about them and in fact brought them up very discreetly to identify who couldn’t eat what.
This can be a big deal to some who doesn’t want the whole restaurant knowing they can’t eat butter or eggs. Not a problem for me though (I can’t eat seafood) I’m proud to be a food-freak!
Rating out of 5
Cost
The beauty of not having a Michelin star is the price, whilst they wait for the Michelin man to come knocking on the door Bhoomi’s prices are very reasonable, in fact cheaper than other Cheltenham restaurants of this quality.
Rating out of 5
Leaving the restaurant
Just like going on holiday the time comes when you have to leave the happy place and return to normality and washing your own dishes.
I maybe wrong but I’m pretty sure I saw a couple of the staff wipe their eyes when we stood up to leave, they gave the impression that they really enjoyed having us there as much as we enjoyed being their.
Rating out of 5
Overall impression of Bhoomi in Cheltenham
As you might have picked up on their review, we quite liked Bhoomi. Some of the staff that serviced the courses and explained what we were just about to fill our belly’s with, could speak a little clearer and maybe offer a smile once in a while, and their wine selection could be a bit larger. But these are small things which can be improved on.
We will be back for sure so the staff at Bhoomi will not have to wait too long to see their Maj once again.