The Rice Boat in Cambridge

Absolutely delicious! Menu is very different from usual Indian restaurants and the dishes pack so much flavour. Recommend prawn balls, black pepper chicken starter and Kerala fish curry. Lassi is great too.

Delicious independent South Indian. Very friendly service, great food. We loved the veggie dishes and the breads , especially the Appam.

A lovely, welcoming South Indian restaurant serving delicious traditional Kerala cuisine. We loved everything we ordered… starters (Vada with coconut chutney and sambar, and Onion Vada), mains (Kerala Chicken Curry and Fried Chicken Masala - both medium spiced), rice (Neyychor basmati), breads (Chapatti and Porotta) and desserts (Pistachio Kulfi and Kerala Banana Fritters). The Mukhwas at the end was a nice touch. Free parking on the side streets after 5pm or 6pm (parking info on their website). This was our first visit and we’re already thinking of what dishes to try next. Worth a visit!

A lovely, welcoming South Indian restaurant serving delicious traditional Kerala cuisine. We loved everything we ordered… starters (Vada with coconut chutney and sambar, and Onion Vada), mains (Kerala Chicken Curry and Fried Chicken Masala - both medium spiced), rice (Neyychor basmati), breads (Chapatti and Porotta) and desserts (Pistachio Kulfi and Kerala Banana Fritters). The Mukhwas at the end was a nice touch. Free parking on the side streets after 5pm or 6pm (parking info on their website). This was our first visit and we’re already thinking of what dishes to try next. Worth a visit!

super tasty and very friendly - highly recommend! will deffo be back :)

Awesome South Indian food. The only place I know in Cambridge that does this cuisine so well. Some authentic spicy dishes that are properly spicy.

Excellent and tasty with lovely flavours. Visited for a quick dinner with my kids and in laws. Really helpful staff and lovely suggestions. Excellent flavours and excellent chicken samosas and vada. Thali also very nice. Good curries and lovely rice - lemon rice was ace.

Our first experience of southern Indian cuisine. Very different from normal curries but wow! Wonderful flavours, particularly the Kerala beef and Inchy curry. Great to have gf breads, which again were very tasty (Dosa platter) and then homemade pistachio kulfi! Relaxed setting and good informative service. If we lived in Cambridge it would be my local.

We had a lovely meal here last night. The service and food were both great. We'll definitely be back again soon. Thank you

Rice Boat serves a great selection of dishes, including a wide range of flatbreads I haven't seen elsewhere. The staff are universally friendly and the prices reasonable. I can recommend organising a society annual dinner with them, as they are always willing and helpful to accommodate requests!

I love the food here. The Kerala Fish Curry is an absolute stand out, in a field of delicious curries. Their food makes me happy. Just try it.

Really good food. One of the best places for Indian food in the UK. Strongly recommend.

The food was delicious. It seemed incredibly authentic. The staff were very friendly. Certainly worth trying, would go again.

Top food - very tasty. Quite spicy but just as we liked. Shared a masala dosa between us for starter. Lamb ularthu, kerala beef fry, Allepy fish curry, Tiger king prawn and unripe mango curry with Kerala red rice & porottas, with accompaniments of raita and inch curry. All delicious. Hadn’t been for ages, glad we did. Will be back

We haven't visited the Rice Boat for approximately 12 years, it was always excellent and after this significant time lapse, the quality from every angle was just as outstanding as before. Julian & Karina from Norfolk.

I would definitely say that this is so far the best Kerala Cuisine in Cambridge. Had a delicious dinner with my friends. All the dishes that we tried were finger licking good. If you want to try the authentic taste of Kerala dishes, definitely go for this one..

Really delicious...especially fish curry

Excellent south Indian cuisine in a warm family run place. Highly recommended!

One of my favourite restaurants in Cambridge. The food is consistently fantastic - beautifully spiced, freshly prepared, and authentic. There is also a 'family' vibe about the place which makes it all the more special - it's rarely overly busy, and you often feel like you've been welcomed in to eat as a guest in someone's house, in the best possible way. Will continue to go back again and again!

Great choice for a flavorful south Indian cuisine in Cambridge, from Chef Prakash. Would highly recommend!

Very authentic and delicious We will come again ❤️ Thank you 🌞

Mediocre kerala food. If you cook well at home, not really worth making a trip to this place. Had family visiting and came because of the reviews, food was disappointing for all. Limited menu.Good service.

We had an AMAZING last night. the Rice Boat again did not dissapointed! It was absolutley spot on! I haven’t been eating there after some time as I live abroad. But yesterday we arrived and the our fist stop was at Rice Boat and it was as I said delicious! Highly recommending! You should try!

Lovely food and a cozy atmosphere. Staff is very kind and the service is good and quick. One of the best restaurants in Cambridge.

Probably the best Indian food in Cambridge and for a bargain. The food takes a while to cook (45 mins+) but it's worth the wait. The dishes can be really spicy even if it says mild on the menu so I ask specifically for mild.

Really delightful experience - lovely food, smiling service, no rush. Highly recommended!

really super delicious! service was good and staff was very nice and helpful with recommending dishes. Had such a wide variety on the menu. The atmosphere was relaxing and calm. Highly recommend and would totally come back to try more of the menu!

I had the Syrian Christian curry. Really delicious. Sevice was great. Lovely family run business. Will be going back v soon.

We had a wonderful meal at the Rice Boat - a delicious array of curries and some excellent masala dosas. Lovely service and relaxed atmosphere. We had a charming conversation with the Patronne who cooked the dosas herself. Highly recommend!

I have been going to this place for years, and it remains my favourite restaurant in Cambridge. The food is infinitely better and more interesting than the average Indian restaurant, the staff, exceptionally friendly and accommodating (I often come at a late hour), the background music is kept to a level that is not intrusive. I very much recommend this place.

VERY yummy homemade food - strong recommendation! The owners are mega sweet and make everything themselves. Worth the wait!

Always some of the best food in Cambridge - great Aubergine Theeyal and Biriyani this evening - and friendly staff. Best order ahead for a group, though.

Authentic Indian Restaurant, kerala style cuisine but the chef is very good at accommodating other Indian style varieties food. Nice food and Nice people.

100% authentic Keralan cuisine. I had the masala dosa, friends had chicken and fish dishes. All were excellent. Very highly recommended

Provided a lovely, interesting meal for a party of 15. Every dish was excellent and not something I’d eaten before which was great. The service was also perfect, this is a very special place. So glad we found you.

I was struggling to find somewhere that had a variety of vegan food and non-vegan food. I had heard that this restaurant was good but my god, they are amazing! I had the Aubergine Theeyal. This was THE BEST curry I have EVER had. It was so fragrant with flavours, so smooth and creamy. It had transported me right into the heart of authentic culture and cuisine. If you do anything this week, make sure you book a reservation at the Rice Boat. We have to support our local small businesses, and if they’re as amazing as the Rice Boat it’s a no brainer!! There was a wait, but I assure you it is well worth it! Wouldn’t you want to wait a few extra minuets for the most authentic and delicious meal of you life?

Simple homely Kerala/ Indian food…. Sambar was very homey… Never miss the star dish 😋pistachio Kulfi…

We had delicious southern Indian food - for me the most authentic Indian food I had outside of India. My Biryani was delicious and all dishes my wife and kids had were also just wonderful. Strong recommendation!

We had a lovely dinner at Rice Boat with our friends, the food was really delicious and it had a nice chill atmosphere, great for families! We also ordered food for almost ten people because it was so hard to decide what to eat :D and we met the lady who was the owner of the restaurant which was also very nice and asked us to pack our leftovers since we were more then full at one point haha I had the chicken biryani which was delicious! My bf had the Lamb ularthu and our friends had Paneer Green Peas curry which were also all very delicious as well as the prawn balls The Parotta was also amazingly prepared! Also remember to try their Mango lassi as well, famous delicious drink! Thank you for the lovely dinner we had and we hope that we will come again! (:

Great place, wonderful drum music, fantastic food

Delicious South Indian food. Different to the mostly Bangladeshi food in other Indian restaurants. The food is cooked freshly to order so there can be a wait, which seems to infuriate some reviewers. I'm always happy to wait for quality. There were 6 of us. Wife and I are vegans. Others not. We all started with Masala dosa - delicious. Mixture of beautifully cooked and unusual mains. Our vegan mains - vegetable thali and a lentil dish (forget the name) were full of flavour and spicy. Added a side of shredded greens. The best Indian food I've eaten in England on 2 trips of several months since lock-down. It's worth going just for the dosas! Very quiet night. Deserves a much higher ranking. Beat a path to their door!

The south Indian food here is really excellent, and brilliant value for money. Service can be slow, but only because food is lovingly prepared, with an attentiveness that makes this place more like a supper club than a generic Indian restaurant. If you have the time for a leisurely dinner or lunch, I can't recommend this place more highly.

We had a a fabulous time, although it has been a while since our last visit but the food here is as good as ever. Delicious curry, particularly the Aleppy fish curry and porottas. Thank you to Rita and Jacob for looking after us, as ever.

Excellent food, reasonable prices (for Cambridge)

Really nice food and really nice staff! 👌

We made a reservation six hours before arrival only to be told that half of the menu is unavailable. When asking for chai, they told us that we'll have to wait for at least 20-30 mins for it to arrive. This was on a weekend so I'm not sure how this place functions.

Always good. Recommend by my Indian friends.

Terrific regional flavors and lovely hosts. A must eat in Cambridge.

I am glad I tried despite the appearance and reviews 😌 Perhaps because of the usual quietness, I was often surprised that the restaurant was still operating. The reviews also come with polarity and made me a little wary. Fortunately, everything turns out to be awesome. For starter we had fried prawns mainly because 1) the lady recommended their juicy giant prawns 2) the prawn balls take more than 15 min for the chef to prepare. Well the fried ones still arrived quite late, but it’s worth the wait. Nicely seasoned, garlicky, gingerly, some lemon grass, mustard seeds, and a little spiciness. The rice fried in the same pan tastes super nice. The mains: 7 pm, half hour after opening, the fish and Porotta are already sold out. The good side— food is probably fresh. (The lady said she bought it from a market in London, and the fish is the prepared in small batches. Guess I’ll pre-order with my reservation to secure it.) The remaining options are no disappointment. The beef fry is a burst of warming spices. Somehow it reminds me of the five-spice beef jerk back home… perhaps it’s the mixture of fennel, chili, cumin, turmeric, clove and maybe some star anise. It may look like a small shallow plate, but it’s all meat. The eggplant coconut curry is mellow and soothing, not too sweet. Though we weren’t able to have the highly recommended Porotta, the dosa and appam are great as well. Dosa is crispy outside with a little more thickness in the center, nice balance. Coconut chutney is aromatic. The appam looks like a flat version of idly, with a similar delightful mildly sour taste of fermented rice and an extra hint of coconut. And we didn’t expect there to be desserts! In photo albums! Creamy and not too sweet. The lavender vanilla is surprisingly nice. I’m not a fan of vanilla, but the lavender is so naturally fragrant and calming. All my stress from the past week just melts away with it. I’d really recommend the place and am definitely coming back again. The lady is super friendly and helpful (maybe a little bossy but really like my loving aunties :) I also like how the menu explains things and how the restaurant differs from other places. Although the kitchen may be slow, there is passion. Look at the cute flowers and taste the food.

Excellent food! Even though the restaurant is a Kerala cuisine one, it has the best paneer in Cambridge along with the most authentic and homemade tasting chapati. The service is also fast, and the owner is a delight to talk to. Highly recommended.

The food was reasonably tasty but tiny and overpriced portions that took 2 hours to cook. Clearly, not enough kitchen staff or front of house. The service was appalling. People left the restaurant angry while we were there, as the wait time was so absurdly long. Won’t repeat that experience.

Very good south Indian food. The thali had dishes with perfectly balanced flavours. The dal and sambar were almost close to home made food. A big shout out to the staff and the owner, who were super friendly. Will definitely go back. A great option to go with a large group of friends as well.

We came here for a big group dinner and the food was incredible!

This restaurant was recommended to us and we thought it was fabulous! The food was so authentic and delicious and the staff were so friendly and service great. Especially loved the aubergine curry and dosa masala, but no complaints with anything! Will definable visit again on our next trip to Cambridge!

Delicious homemade taste in Cambridge. Must try their freshly prepared Ice cream. Atmosphere was so cosy.

Excellent authentic, freshly cooked food. A great choice for a special night out. This is different from the usual Indian cuisine. The restaurant is simply set out and was not busy which suited our party as we could talk easily across a party of six. The food was obviously freshly prepared and so it did take a little time to come, but was absolutely worth the wait.

I cannot explain in words how amazing this restaurant is! Being South Indian myself I miss my home food, my mothers and grandmothers cooking. This place takes me back and gives me such nostalgia. It’s perfect and it’s a family run business. Please support it, it’s such a gem!!!! The masala dosa/ chicken curry/ Thalia and the dessert is to just die for! ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Homely kerala food...good ambience as well

Recently dined at Riceboat for with a group of 10. A fantastic traditional Indian restaurant. Cozy atmosphere and the service was super friendly. Food was delicious and full of authentic Indian flavors. Even received some complimentary desserts which was a really nice surprise. Would highly recommend – great value for money!

Having spent 6months in India , this is the first time i have had an Indian meal that felt truly authentic. have been looking for Masala Dosa for ages! Friendly staff, Flavoursome food, The Masala Dosa was just how we remembered The Vegetable Thali was flavoursome without being over spiced The Kulfi I licked my plate ! Value for money, friendly and recommend wholeheartedly , we will be returning and it is a 90 minute roundtrip for us! Not instant service as food is cooked fresh - but worth the wait

Tried aleppy fish curry, king fish curry, onion vada, mango Lassi, lemon rice, and coconut rice, and kulfi. Lamb and Gulaab Jamun were not available though. 😢 Rest all was fantastic.

Hospitable hosts. Excellent food. Thoroughly recommend.

We really enjoyed the food; authentic curries and a wonderful selection of breads with a home made feel. Well worth a visit.

Coeliac friendly; only place I’ve found in Cambridge with gluten free breads, including dhosa and appam….which are fantastic. Most curry houses have just chapatis and nann, neither of which are GF. Also Gf starters of Varda; it’s unusual for coeliacs to get a fried, crunchy …normally only able to have plain things ( tho those were also lovely…fried prawns!). All the food is top notch, and service is much quicker than when we went a few years ago. Perfect

Attended a society dinner there a few weeks ago. The food was delicious, especially given the very reasonable price for a three-course tasting menu (£25ish excluding drinks), and the atmosphere was great. I'd really recommend the venue for society annual dinners especially - we looked at a lot of options and this was by far the best.

The food was utterly outstanding along with the friendly and welcoming staff. The lady who co-owns creates wonderful and mouthwatering deserts too! This is our favourite Indian establishment in Cambridge. I have recommended this place to many people!

A lovely restaurant that has very nice decor... And has simply outstanding food! Don't miss it!

We had an amazing Valentine’s Day meal at the Rice Boat. The food was absolutely fantastic and very flavoursome. Highly recommended!

Most useless dosa, do not order any dish from this place

I really dont know how they got this good reviews with this worst customer relations and bad quality food.Kindly avoid going there seeing the good reviews as we did.

Fantastically authentic. Not your regular Indian, just amazing food cooked with such love and care. Will DEFINITELY be returning

Very expensive for nothing! Low quantity but too expensive. Kerala porotta they charges £4 for a piece and that is frozen and not layered one Disappointed In addition to the expensive menu, they charge service charge as well Can you let me know when did i ordered an additional porotta .? Don't bluff things ! 4£ for a porotta because wheat and oil price went High! That's the funniest thing ever heard this year 😂

Amazing Indian food, friendly staff and owner. I would recommend everyone to go and try this place. Authentic Indian taste.

Absolutely delicious Indian / Keralan restaurant in Cambridge! Super friendly family style service. The appam (rice bread) and dosa are top notch! Was here 15 years ago and it’s still the same delicious quality! Definitely worth a visit if you are in Cambridge!

Seemed short staffed so service was slow. Also a few items on the menu not available. HOWEVER the food was excellent and worth the wait!

Hmmm 🤔 ever get that send that a restaurant just isn’t working right? Lots of people being turned away from a mostly empty restaurant at 6:30pm. Those already sitting there waiting and waiting…. The staff don’t really know what’s going on. Oh dear. Food was ok. Dosa was a bit thick and grainy, not light and crisp. Sambar was strangely tasteless. Chicken starter was nice 👌

We went there and we wonder when we see the price of a Kerala prota it is 4£ per Porota can you believe it. Then we ordered 10 Porota then she told that not possible because it will take too long time to make 10 Porota 🤔 can you believe mallus. I can’t give a good rating

Adorable place, great vibes. Loved loved loved the food, we will be a frequent flyer here. Everyone who works here was incredibly sweet and attentive. (We loved Cornelia)!!

We stopped here for dinner tonight and it was absolutely delicious. If you want to try authentic home cooked Keralan food then you have to try this restaurant.

Decent and freshly made authentic Keralan food. It was a full restaurant and the kitchen works on a first order, first served basis (rightly so). We were a party and they took account of the fact that one of us had to leave early and...

Amazing on the rating of this restaurant..It doesn’t even deserve single star rating.The lady staff’s behaviour was so annoying!!!Some of the reviews do mention the misbehaviour of the lady staff.While we eating,the lady staff asked us how the food is,even without any doubts we said it was terrible.Then she replied if we don’t like it keep it there as it is…She even don’t asked us what was our concern. I have been to many restaurants in UK but this is the first worst food,worst staff and worst hotel.

As I'm a chef I never had a food like this restaurant. I have tasted many food from different restaurants and star hotels but this was ridiculous. I never ever recommend any second person for this place...

This was ever drastic experience we had today. The quality of food was never worth the money we paid. I never recommend this place to anyone..

I would not like to give any star rating to this shop.Don’t ever go to this hotel if we need to taste South Indian food.My experience was too bad.The lady staff who taken our order was not professional and she didn’t even know how to behave with customers.Initially she told the chicken curry has 3 pieces in it but when she served it she mentioned it has got only 2 pieces and she will reduce the bill for it but didn’t done it.The food quality is very cheap and moreover it’s not fresh as well… Anyone really concerned of their health please don’t never ever go to this hell.

Worst experience ever had, decided to dine in this place based on the reviews. However not just the food wasn’t okay but also poor experience from the staff. Indian porotta and appam wasn’t fully cooked and we got different curry rather than what we ordered even without asking us. The lady who took orders and prepared food (as she said) for us was even rude when tried to explain our food experience. She not even listen and said leave food if you don’t want! Never ever experienced such a behavior. I would never recommend this place to anyone

Worst experience ever…The owner was rude.We ordered lamb curry,beef fry ,chicken stew, porotta and appam and dosa.however she brought chicken curry instaed of chicken stew without even asking us. None of them were good and not properly cooked as well…when we told her our concern she didn’t even bother to listen to us as well…..,won’t recommend it to anyone

Delicious food and very friendly staff!

Went to Rice Boat for dinner with family. The place was packed and we soon found out why. The food was wonderfully delicious with real traditional taste of Kerala dishes. The portions were good and the service was friendly and courteous. Kudos to the chef for being able to maintain the traditional flavour and taste in his dishes.

We had a fantastic and personable experience at the Riceboat. The food, specific for the Kerala region, was for us a nice variation of the Indian cuisine. Very aromatic and full flavours. The item to die for was the bread - the Parottq- I would...

We visited as a group of 9 and Rita and her team could not have been more welcoming and accommodating. We ordered a variety of dishes across the group and everything was well cooked and very tasty and the price is very reasonable. This is...

We are so lucky to have The Rice Boat as our local South Indian restaurant - the food is brilliant, authentic, spicy and tasty - beautifully presented with homemade care and attention. Great Vegan food, helpful and attentive service. Great value for money, and simple...

Really lovely South Indian food, tastes like home cooking. My only criticism is quite a few dishes not available but apart from that lovely food and reasonable prices, will be back

Amazing food, great atmosphere and really delightful service - would highly recommend. Also a bonus of no nuts/peanuts in anything!

The most amazing food and truly wonderful hosts. Thank you so much for a wonderful evening!

Ate dinner here last week. It's Syrian Christian food from Kerala and it tastes absolutely homemade. It certainly isn't your run-of-the-mill Kerala restaurant. The chef knows what she/he is doing and puts a lot of love into the cooking. This is as authentic as it's going to get outside a Malayali's home kitchen. We will be back for sure.

Terrible!!! Walked in got told long wait and loads not in menu. Then ordered what she said then she said as it take too long to cook we can't do it as got takeaways to do. So left and went to the thai next door which was amazing brilliant service,tasty food, and cheaper.

Atmosphere of a mortuary, ambiance of a coffin with the lid down . Staff you have ask too smile ( still didn’t) ). Pure rubbish.

Excellent food for a good price and with very friendly service.

Lovely staff, excellent food - quite delicate with a menu that caters to all tastes. I had the signature dish and it was delicious. Strongly recommend.

Fantastic food! We had a delicious feast here.