Usually when I go to an Indian restaurant I know what to expect, in fact I usually walk in knowing what I am going to have.

However, when I perused the menu in Sagar South Indian vegetarian restaurant in Harrow last week, I confess I was almost completely lost.

After careful examination of every single thing, I probably knew what five were out of an extensive and varied offering – excluding rice and plain chowpati.

When our waiter came over to take our order we had to admit our ignorance and ask for some recommendations. Without a hesitation, he talked us through a few items on each section, checking we liked the ingredients and heat levels, making it very easy for us to make informed selections.

To start we went for a safe option of samosas (£3.75), and then his recommendation of medu vada (£3) - fried lentil doughnuts, and potato bonda (£3) - seasoned potatoes and mild spices fried in a gram flour batter.

I have had samosas many times but these certainly stood out, the donuts were delicious, with chopped green chillies giving a surprise kick here and there. The potato bonda stood out for me, crispy on the outside, soft on the inside and smothered in a yogurt sauce that gave a respite from the heat of the donuts.

For our mains we were kindly offer a few small bowls of various curries (priced around £5 for a full serving). We had channa masala – chick peas simmered in a tomato curry with fresh spices – this was the stand out favourite for my partner.

We had brinjal bhajee - fresh aubergine cooked in fresh tomato and capsicum with home-blended south Indian spices. As a lover of aubergine I really enjoyed this and the vegetable was soft and flawlessly cooked.

We also had fried dal - yellow pulses with light chilli, tomato and lemon seasoning, this was delicate with a tingle of spice, and saag paneer - lightly spiced fresh spinach cooked with fresh homemade cottage cheese. This stood out for me, the spinach and paneer cheese were meltingly soft to eat and both ingredients are favourites of mine.

We had these with garlic rice (£2.95) and batura (£3.25) - large fluffy fried bread – the perfect accompaniments.

Keen to try as much as we could we also ordered one of their Bombay chowpati specials (£3), stuffed with potatoes and served with yoghurt. It was light in flavour and so worked well with our curry selection.

At this point we were undoubtedly overdoing it and struggled to finish anything but, with it all being so enjoyably rich in flavour and yet delicate on the tongue, we certainly tried our best.

After our mains we paused a while to drink our bottle of Monte Verde Sauvignon Blanc from Chile, with subtle flavours leaving your taste buds to focus on the food, before ordering simple desserts of ras malai (£2.25) - a small sponge milk pudding, and mango kulfi (£2.45) – Indian ice cream, which came shaped like a fruit. Both were very sweet, as I had expected, but not too heavys.

The staff's attention to detail was prevalent throughout the meal without being intrusive. A great deal of care was taken in the positioning of each dish, making sure we had everything we wanted and needed.

It was, without a doubt, the best Indian food I have had and a restaurant that stands above the rest.

This is my first five-star review, for anything, ever.