Mandalay

I was passing by at lunchtime so thought I'd give the special lunch a try. I ordered the shrimp and potato curry - which came with rice for £3.90 - so OK for price I thought. The curry was fine as were the prawns - good sized and luscious - and plenty of them in a strongly tomato-flavoured mildly spiced sauce. What let it all down was the side salad - tired, even brown lettuce and some slivers of cucumber (which I hate) interspersed. They can't be blamed for the cucumber (someone must like it!) but I felt really let down by the lettuce. One might have expected this in a 1960's caff but not today. Unfortunately, it coloured my whole experience of what is otherwise a good budget eatery - the like of which are fast disappearing from London.

As a local, I have been looking forward to eating at Mandalay for some time. I visited on a week night and the restaurant was at capacity and staff had to turn away customers who had not reserved so booking is essential. To start, we had the leafy green fritters which tastes a bit like chinese seaweed fried in batter and egg and potato samosas which were flavoursome. For mains we had lamb with ginger, fish curry and green beans. The lamb was tender, however, we couldn't taste the ginger. I enjoyed the mildly spiced fish curry but the green beans were rather oily. Portion sizes are small so value for money is not as good as it first appears. Service was ok, the waiter pulled a face when we ordered the leafy green fritters, we asked if it was a bad choice and he said it wasn't so his reaction was left unexplained and our waiter started clearing away the starters before we had finished because our main dishes were ready. Overall, I thought the food and overalll experience was average. I enjoyed the food but not enough to warrant another visit.

I went here a couple of nights ago and had a great time. We had leafy greens fritters which came in a light tempura-like batter - perfect as a starter with the chilli dip. Mains consisted of a coconut based lamb curry with coconut rice and naan bread, as well as prawns stir fried in ginger. Both were well proportioned (and I'm a greedy man) and we were both very full but happy afterwards as we left. Best of all the food was simple but very tasty. The staff inside were friendly and happy to explain the menu which made a big difference. Although the restaurant itself won't win any prizes for appearance, it is simple, basic and completely functional, with the food the biggest winner of the day. Will be coming back.

I unfortunately cannot share the positive reviews given here. I went there last night and have to say it is merely average, it doesnt deserve more than 3 stars. I had lamb in tamarind and I was really disappointed, it doesnt have any flavour. There is no taste to describe because there is none, except that it is a bit spicy and bitter. My friend had the chicken version which was a bit better but still not what you would expect after reading the timeout review, really average. Starters : spring rolls were too oily and fried for too long, Calabesh tasted kinda interesting but the oil in the chip pan they used must be really old, thats more fastfood quality than restaurant quality. If you go, expect very greasy and spicy (but not chilli spicy more vingar spicy) food, it has nothing to do with Thai or Indian. Also, all the portions are really really small. So it isnt this cheap after all...

The editors' high rating is well-deserved! Initially I was skeptical but despite the "greasy spoon" appearance of the restaurant, the food and ambience are outstanding! Definitely worth a stop. In fact, you probably want to arrive early or book well in advance if you want to be be sure you get seated.