HOW much chicken is too much chicken? I suppose if you were a chicken, then any would be excessive.

But as a keen curry-ist I can never decide whether I’m best sticking solely to white meat or moving to the darker delights of lamb and beef.

You know the score when you go for a meal. There are three things on the menu that you fancy, but of course you can’t have them all, can you?

Well in today’s dining out dimension you can with the rise of the buffet restaurant.

These eat-all-you-can outlets have redefined a meal out and what people expect from the food on their plate. Sometimes a bit grim. You may expect to see a lowering of quality from a la carte fayre purely due to the huge amounts of food which is cooked and the price charged.

I think it’s fair to say that within the buffet sphere there is a huge variation in quality. I remember one never-ending pizza buffet in which the only option seemed to be a limp Margarita and a salad which seemed to be adopting the brownish hues of army camouflage clothing before my eyes.

However, Aakash is definitely different. If you are a carnivore you may think you have died and gone to heaven.

Tikka-ed breasts from the poultry equivalent of Dolly Parton, freshly roasted lamb with Asian spicing sliced to your liking – and that’s just a taste of the dining delights.

The restaurant on Bradford Road in Cleckheaton styles itself as the largest Indian restaurant in the world.

It’s in a former Congregationalist chapel, built in 1858 and a Grade II listed building.

I think from the car park (manned) and the style of the building you know it’s not your normal curry house.

The ornate interior boasts a fabulous ceiling and a smaller mezzanine level above the huge main dining room.

The left-hand side is chock full with chromed and heated dishes filled with all manner of delights.

Starting at the beginning there’s a great selection of dips, sauces and salads as well as loads of poppadoms.

Then it’s the starters – my favourite bit of any meal.

The usual bhajis and pakoras are delicious and welcome but it’s the meat dishes where Aakash shines. On our visit there were chicken tikka bites – smaller pieces of chicken – chicken tikka breast, lamb chops by the dozen as well as Bengali chicken legs.

Hot and dry tasting, they were fabulous against the moist meat of the lamb and chicken.

After eating too many starters, myself and my dining companion dipped an already-stuffed toe into the mains. Metaphorically. It would have required too much gymnastic ability to carry out such a reckless act with the amount of protein we’d ingested.

Chicken handi was chunks of that white flesh in a nice and spicy thick sauce with chillis. Just right for me, a bit hot for my companion.

There was also a chicken tikka masala, a thick and oozy lamb one – simply called meat curry – and a couple of others beside.

There was also a biryani, a nice basmati rice and plenty of moist naans waiting to collect the inevitable sauce excess.

My companion had a specially prepared roast lamb with a special rice from a chap stood in the dining room with a chef’s hat on. We know not who is he was or why he was serving it separately from the main dishes, but apparently it was very moist and the rice, which included spices and vegetables, was the perfect accompaniment.

On a previous visit I sampled the desserts and found in particular the Asian rice pudding to be a winner. On the night this review took place, however, I was a busted flush well before a sweet.

As I waddled across the car park, plonked myself on the groaning car seat and rolled down the window to get a breeze on my face, I think I finally realised just how much chicken is too much chicken.

Aakash

Providence Place, Bradford Road, Cleckheaton, BD19 3PN

Tel 01274 878866

Website: www.aakashrestaurant.co.uk

Opening hours: Tues-Sun 6pm-11pm

Children: Yes

Disabled access: Yes

The bill: £40.90 for two buffet meals, two large Cobra and two pints of Diet Coke

Would you go back?: Yes