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Even though the fast-ish food concept of the Masala Zone chain is clearly designed to reach a wider public, it is reassuring to see plenty of Indian customers still enjoying lunch here. There are certainly cheaper places they could go, and others more highfaluting (a notable few run by the Zone's owners - Camellia and Namita Panjabi and Ranjit Mathrani), but this place offers a persuasive mix of good cooking, keen prices, stylish surroundings and friendly service.
Thalis (grand and regular) form the crux of the menu, but you'll also find around 15 curries, birianis served with dal, grills and street snacks. Bubbly crisp-shelled chicken and pea samosas had a juicy filling that didn't stint on chilli powder; we quelled the fire with thick vanilla lassi and a refreshing apple and mint juice combo. Rarely seen Sindhi dishes include chana dabalroti, the rich vegetarian version featuring chickpeas, lotus root (apparently) and chunks of bread in a tomatoey masala.
It was a lip-smacking mixed grill that scored highest on our last visit, though: fat, juicy prawns, tender smoky mutton chops and generous hunks of chicken tikka - great value at £10.75, served with naan, salad and zingy mint raita.
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What is 'following'?020 7287 9966
Meals served noon-11pm Mon-Sat; 12.30-10.30pm Sun
Main courses £7.75-£13. Set meal £5.50 1 course, £8.50-£9.20 2 courses, £10.75-£11.45 3 courses
Credit cards AmEx, DC, MC, V
Facilities
Babies and children welcome ( children's menu; high chairs ), Booking advisable, Available for hire, Takeaway service; delivery service ( over £15 within 1.5-mile radius )Gr8 value for money, very trendy indian restaurant with gr8 offerings of street food (which I never tasted before) and it was lovely.... this is not your typical curry house with oily curries but has so much more to offer!
I am definately visiting again :)
Got a Grand thalis, with chicken bangalore, medium spiced, was good but not enough, all the sides were good, only down side was the rice was only warm enough to eat other wise enjoyable.
A vegetarian friend kept on recommending this restaurant to me, so a couple of days ago (22 Feb 2011), I decided to give the restaurant ago (Soho). The restaurant is quite a spacious – seating around 150 people the staff are friendly and explain the menu quite well. The evening that my friend and I went, the restaurant was very quiet with about 20 other customers, we asked whether we could occupy a table for four allowing us to stretch out on this quiet night. To our great surprise they denied us this pleasure, stating that those tables are only for parties of four, we would have understood if they are were busy. We ordered two different lamb dishes and a range of vegetarian accompaniments. The lamb dishes were terrible, the lamb was dry even though both dishes were swimming in sauce, it was also noted that the base source was the same on both dishes with added spices to differentiate between them. This meant that you could taste the fresh uncooked curry flavour, opposed to a sauce that had been cooked specifically for that dish. We were very disappointed with those two dishes; however, my vegetarian friend was correct about their vegetarian dishes they were very nice.
Would we go back? Not really.
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