Here's a culinary conundrum for you. When’s a pub not just a pub? When half is a restaurant.

And for the fortunate people of the Holme Valley they have a cracking one in their midst.

For half of the Clothiers Arms in Netherthong has been transformed into a restaurant that takes its culinary heart and soul from Bangladesh.

Bengal – which has a main restaurant called Bengal Spice on Dunford Road in Holmfirth – is now fully ensconced in half the pub with a wall and a door dividing the two.

Surely the best of both worlds. It means the restaurant has been able to set up in the heart of the village without having to go through the enormous expense of renovating a building and the lucky diners hardly have far to go – probably about 10 steps or so – for their pre-meal drinks and a perhaps a couple to help them on their way afterwards.

And the drinks you want during the meal come from the pub side too so it’s win-win all the way.

The Bengal menu certainly offers different dishes to many other restaurants with its Bangladesh heritage and the friendly staff are only too delighted to talk you through them. Nuts, dairy and gluten are all clearly marked against each dish.

We started with the not so modest sounding Yummy Mushroom (£3.50), creamy mushrooms lightly spiced and served with little naan breads while the other starter was the oh-so-simply titled Fried Fish (£4.50), cod fillet soaked in powdered masala marinade.

The mushrooms sure were creamy with the spice more delicately-crafted than light while the fragile fish was certainly protected by its coat of spice to make it something of a paradox.

Now we’d had popadoms with a pickle tray – and this is a pickle tray to savour. The mango chutney had its own special twist while the onions were chopped slightly chunkier than you get in other places and were better for it. The point is we needed this – along with the raita yoghurt and mint – for the fish otherwise it could have been too dry.

A great start ... but could they keep it up with the mains?

You bet they could with us opting for one of their signature dishes – one they’ve devised themselves – called Mr Naga (£7.50). Now naga is a chilli that can kick like a mule with clogs on and, according to the menu, is one of the most popular chillies in Bengal – not that I’d ever been aware there were popularity contests for chillies. But it’s not just that as the dish also includes onion, pepper and garlic and you can have a choice of chicken, chicken tikka, tandoori chicken, lamb, king prawns, keema, fish or vegetables to go along with it. I’d say that was quite a choice.

We went chicken with this and it’s the hot and saucy dish it’s billed to be but no problem for anyone who can handle your typical madras. No problem at all, unless you bite into the chilli. Then you’ve a problem – and a pretty big one for the old taste buds – so make sure you put the chilli carefully to one side and stick a warning sign on it.

Three Bean curry side dish at the Bengal restaurant and takeaway based at the Clothiers Arms in Netherthong, Huddersfield

The other mains was the Special Kuchi Kuchi (£8.50) – so good they named it twice? – which was finely sliced lean lamb cooked in a sauce containing strips of peppers and onions, garlic paste, cumin, garam masala, cinnamon, essence of bay leaf and coriander. Not a lot going on there then. The over-riding flavour here is one of pepper that works wonders with the other ingredients to give it a totally unique taste. The side dish was three bean curry (£4.50) starring chana daal, peas and chickpeas – somewhat earthy and different.

And that’s what the Bengal is ... different with other speciality dishes including Badami Momo Madhu – sweet, hot simmer fry with peanuts, fennel seeds, pepper, red onions, coriander and chillies and Garam Masala, five whole spices roasted then ground into a paste to create a sharp, tangy, hot, sweet, smooth and juicy curry.

It looks like Netherthong has struck lucky – especially as the Bengal’s a takeaway too.

The Clothiers Arms, School Street, Netherthong

Tel: 01484 689941

Website: www.bengalspiceonline.co.uk

Opening hours: Tuesday-Sunday 5pm until 10pm, closed Mondays except Bank Holiday Mondays

Children: Yes

Disabled access: Yes but no disabled toilet

The bill: £47.40 including a bottle of wine priced at £11

Would you go back? Yes