UP UNTIL now, the Mint Leaf was probably one of Bournemouth’s best kept culinary secrets. Not because the restaurant’s punters have kept tight-lipped about the Indian brasserie, but because precious few even knew it existed.

It opened earlier this month with less razzmatazz than your average envelope and consequently diners arrived in trickles rather than waves.

This was evident when I visited with my girlfriend last Monday; we were outnumbered four to two by the waiters.

It was the calm before the storm, I felt, because if our meal was anything to go by this place will be stacked to the rafters once people get wind of it.

Owned by Dorset cricketer, Raj Naik, he’s caught us all by surprise opening a restaurant in Bournemouth, but apparently it’s something the Goan has always wanted to do. And it seems he’s doing it well. Favouring contemporary chic over the familiar traditionalism of many Indian restaurants, the Mint Leaf is smart and sophisticated without being showy or pretentious – I didn’t feel underdressed in my distressed flip-flops.

The sharp dressed waiters were friendly and attentive, but without breathing down our necks – so far so good.

We ordered beers (Cobra of course) and scanned the menu, which, to my delight, resisted peddling the same old Anglo Indian fare you see elsewhere. They haven’t forsaken the classics but this place clearly prides itself on original dishes.

Ravenous, we ordered the mixed platter to start (bhajis, vegetarian samosas and tandoori chicken) which arrived with a vibrant assortment of dips.

By the time we finished this exquisite starter, the plate was dishwasher clean.

But the best was yet to come – cue my nawabi ghost (lamb in a tomato, yogurt and garam massala sauce), Liz’s Kerala prawns (with coconut milk, garlic, chillis, mustard seeds and curry leaves) and a side order of bhindi bhaji (okra).

This sublime feast reintroduced me to flavours I hadn’t tasted since my time in India. The sauces were a triumph; we were in culinary nirvana and I even sighed as the last fork full slipped down. I was prepared to give the meal ten out of ten and would have done were it not for the dessert menu, which read like the dessert menu in every other Indian I’ve been in and failed to tempt us. But I couldn’t hold that against them.

Our stunning dinner finished at 51 for two, pounds that is, and worth every penny.