The Holme Valley is the location for the latest addition to the rapidly expanding Pink Elephant stable.

The group trumpeted its arrival on the restaurant scene three years ago with the launch of the first Pink Elephant in half of the Foresters Arms at Moorbottom, Honley.

This venture has proved to be a great example of multi-culturalism, with waiters nipping into the pub to fetch pints of lager for customers, while pub quiz night devotees enjoy a selection of Indian nibbles provided by the restaurant.

In 2013 owner Jay, Dillon and Ali opened the Pink Elephant Persian Lounge in the old Lodges supermarket in the middle of Meltham and now Pink Fusion Lounge has taken over the old Duke of Leeds pub at New Mill crossroads.

This latest arrival builds on a formula which has proved successful in a highly competitive market, and Huddersfield and its surrounding villages must surely now rival Bradford for the quality of its Indian restaurants.

The pink pachyderm recipe has been developed on the premise that customers will pay a little extra for an original menu and high quality service in comfortable surroundings.

The interior is probably my favourite of the three restaurants, with clean, contemporary white walls, brown leather high backed chairs and a nice new carpet in which you sink to your ankles.

The practicality of the latter remains to be seen. It may turn out to be a white elephant, but at the moment it’s rather swish.

The choice of dishes is extensive. Alongside the tried and tested Indian favourites is a large range of specialities, the origins of which, according to the enormous menu, stretch from Arabia and Persia to Morocco and Bangladesh. There should be something here to tempt even the fussiest of south Asia food fans.

I knocked the pickles over with the menu the size of a barn door – fortunately it was laminated, which was more than could be said for the nice tablecloth. The woman on the next table wisely put hers on the floor.

With a couple of pints of draught Cobra and Carlsberg (sadly no Kingfisher), we embarked upon skewers of tiger prawn tava and a starter with the marvellous name of gol gappay – which was a revelation.

The gol gapay arrived, beautifully presented with sauce artistically drizzled around the white crockery – the chef was definitely trying to impress. The dish resembled five delicate savoury mince pies, filled with pureed chickpeas and caramelised onions.

The menu stated “down the hatch in one go,” but this was a tad optimistic. They were each devoured in two delicious goes, a fine balance of flavours with a hint of tamarind and a wonderful discovery. The tiger prawns were equally impressive, large and succulent and served with a delicate pesto and yoghurt coating,

There were plenty of waiters who asked when we would like the next course each time, tailoring the speed of service to suit the customer. We went for “fairly leisurely.”

For mains we chose one speciality and a chicken korma, which was very coconutty, creamy and sweet, one for the ladies – and we loved it!

The Persian-influenced cholay malabar was a choice of meat, chicken or fish marinated in a tangy lime and coriander sauce. We’d ordered sweet and sour, and the two dishes complemented each other rather well.

The food has a depth of flavour and freshness, probably largely due to much of it being organic and the owners, all from Bradford, adopt an Asian approach to their buying.

Instead of getting boxes of veg delivered, they trawl their local vegetable markets picking out the best produce – then haggle with the stallholders. They also personally visit local abattoirs.

The three have no designs on creating a mammoth restaurant empire, but they do have a dream to open a fusion cooking school at some point in the future.

VERDICT: Good food and service with some innovative dishes.

Pink Elephant Fusion

2 Sheffield Road, New Mill, HD9 7JT

Tel: 01484 688661

Website: Under construction

Opening hours: 5pm to 11pm seven days a week

Children: Welcome

Disabled access: Ramp to restaurant but no wheelchair access to toilets

The bill: £43.50for two including three pints of lager

Would you go back? Certainly