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The eight London restaurants in the Rasa chain peerlessly recreate the intricacies and colour of South Indian food, but this remains the flagship. In service and style, it's the smartest of the group (as befits its position on the business-lunch hotspot of Charlotte Street), with a vibrant pink colour scheme adorned by statues, paintings and ornaments from the subcontinent.
As well as the vegetarian cooking of the south-western state of Kerala that Rasa does so well, Samudra specialises in seafood. It's hard not to order too much: just about everything on the menu reads delightfully. Begin with snacks such as pappadavadai (popadoms fried with cumin and sesame seeds), then move on to starters proper, such as Mysore bonda (fried potato balls with chilli, ginger and cashew nuts) or crab thoran. The main-course fish dishes are superb - try fiery varutharacha meen curry (tilapia fillet in roasted coconut, tamarind and red chilli gravy) - or mop up a yoghurty beet cheera pachadi (beetroot and spinach) with one of the spiced breads.
The indecisive, or the more impecunious, should go for the vegetarian or seafood 'feasts'. Round the back, on Rathbone Street, is Rasa Express W1, where a superb vegetarian meal box to eat in or take away costs an astounding £3.50.
Rasa Samudra details
Follow Rasa Samudra to receive updates on special offers here.
What is 'following'?020 7637 0222
Lunch served noon-3pm Mon-Sat. Dinner served 6-10.30pm Mon-Wed, Sun; 6-10.45pm Thur-Sat
Main courses £6.50-£12.95. Set meal £22.50 vegetarian, £30 seafood
Credit cards AmEx, MC, V
Facilities
Babies and children welcome ( high chairs ), Booking advisable, Separate rooms for parties ( seating 12-25 ), Takeaway service, Vegan dishes, Vegetarian menuRasa Samudra map
Restaurants & cafés near Rasa Samudra
See all restaurants near Rasa SamudraBars & pubs near Rasa Samudra
See all bars & pubs near Rasa SamudraComments & ratings 2/5 (Average of 3 ratings)
Be warned that Rasa Samudra's service is appalling. I went with a group of 6 people, prebooked at 8.30pm on a Saturday and had to wait until 9.50pm before we got our food. I was very embarrassed as I had raved on about this restaurant. All my friends had come from out of town to sample Rasa's delights. They never want to go back. The restaurant was not full by any means. Not good enough. I, too, will not be returning.
not one complaint about the food amongst all 27 of us.....
i went for the Varutharacha Meen Curry which was had a subtle tang and a beautiful coconut sauce . other praises sang were for the Bagar Baingan and the Moru Kachiathu . Prices are very reasonable too.
only slight issue was that the waiter was run off his feet as the restaurant is under-staffed. could've been just that night perhaps, but either way get there and order by 8:30 at the latest perhaps. i''d never pretend to be a restaurant connoisseur
, but i've eaten fish in rural Cambodia, Bolivia and the famous San Francisco Pier and the standard here at Rasa wasn't a million miles away. Enjoy .
I think that you may have been spotted by management as a restaurant critic. I have eaten twice here. The service was dreadful and the food was not much better.
I would never recommend anyone to this place especially those who want authentic kerala food. The starters were really dry. The fish curry had the same fish as my starter with a very milky sauce over it and the fish was like leather. I have never seen a Kerala curry with just a pice of fried fish with sauce over it. Both the prawn curry and fish currys were filled with cooked onion slices and looked like a jello!!! Yuck, Really bad food espeicially when some other the other restaurtant in their chain are quite good!!!!!
I heard about them few times by now. So may be I will go there next week to write something in my Indian restaurant blog http://indianrestaurantslondon.blogspot.com/
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