Sheba

Restaurants, Indian Brick Lane
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A Brick Lane stalwart, Sheba has been knocking out dishes from India, Bangladesh and Pakistan for more than 40 years. It's been in the same family all that time.

The menu is typical curry house fare – think samosas, onion bhajis and tandoori lamb chops to start followed by mains of chicken tikka masala, lamb bhuna, prawn vindaloo and a number of biryani dishes. Signature dishes such as shorisha chicken, lamb noorani and king prawn malabar look interesting. 

Drinks include a short selection of wines, pints of Cobra and Kingfisher and lassi. John Smith's is conspicuous by its absence - Sheba was the setting for one of their TV adverts, starring Peter Kay. 

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Sheba says
Welcome to Sheba, one of the most popular Indian restaurants at the heart of London's iconic Brick Lane. A family run restaurant for more than 40 years serving delicious Indian curries and grills since 1974.
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Posted:

Venue name: Sheba
Contact:
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Address: 136 Brick Lane
London
E1 6RU
Transport: Tube: Liverpool Street tube/rail or Shoreditch High Street rail
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Average User Rating

2.6 / 5

Rating Breakdown

  • 5 star:1
  • 4 star:1
  • 3 star:2
  • 2 star:0
  • 1 star:3
LiveReviews|7
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tastemaker

We had the Prawn Chaat Puri  cooked with fresh herbs and chat masala served in desi fried bread, CHICKEN XACUTI  chicken, coconut milk, yoghurt and fairly hot spices which is perfect for someone who loves korma but wants a little more spice in their life.


We also tried a selection of vegetarian side dishes of TARKADAAL  Traditional lentil curry infused with garlic and dry chilli, BHINDI BHAJI Okra sautéed with onions and light spices and an absolutely delicious BOMBAY ALOO, a fairly hot spiced potato dish. Oh and not to forget a peshwari naan!


Would give it 3.5 stars if I could. 


Maybe the worst service i had in a long time. Went with a group of 15, the starter took too long to come and they gave the main course with the starters, which i thought to be pathetic really! They rushed us, we couldn't even finish our beers. Will never return!

Tastemaker

When visiting Brick Lane for a curry, it’s always difficult deciding where to go as there are a few dodgy options out there.  I chose Sheba as it seems to frequently appear on lists for the best curry places on Brick Lane and I wasn’t disappointed.  The food was really good and very tasty.  We had a discount code so the meal was great value for money.  The waiters are very attentive, even though this place is usually rammed (make sure you book a table to avoid a long wait/being disappointed).  Highly recommended for an authentic Brick Lane experience (bar the lack of good service that Brick Lane is notorious for that is!).


 Really, really bad service - the staff were so rude and made a scene when we noticed that we had been overcharged on our bill. Overall the food was pretty average. Few bits of meat in a sweet sauce that could well have just come in a jar. Even with our 'special' 20% discount from the sales guy out the front still came to £20 pp for a few curries and some starters. Better, and friendlier, options to be had on Brick Lane

Tastemaker

This was my first Brick Lane curry experience, (or at least the first one I remember) so placing it on the map of Brick Lane curries will be hard to pinpoint.


For me, the food was great. I pushed the boat out by not getting a chicken tikka marsala, and hitting the excellent chicken rezala. Just don't eat the green chillies. Or do if you're not a wimp like me... My companions enjoyed their dishes too, and we accompanied it with the standard carry house accoutrement of Cobra beer and naan bread. As usual, one rice per person is too much, just two portions for the three of us was ample. As good a curry as I've had.


My main criticism comes from the experience and the surroundings. My friend I was going with wanted to go to Sheba, so we ignored all the other hawkers down Brick Lane, then when we reached the restaurant, Sheba's own man was about to offer us the usual deals, but when he realised we were going in, didn't seem to bother any more. It just felt like we were being penalised for actually wanting to go to the restaurant rather than choosing it by accident. The service inside wasn't so friendly either, it seemed like they had all had enough of obnoxious drunken parties, and just treated everyone with the same steely face standard. The trip to the toilets left much to be desired, a little ramshackle really. It wasn't that busy when I was there, but I would hate to imagine what the facilities would be like when its full...


Overall, excellent food let down by service and surroundings. They make much of their culinary accolades, it feels that some of that same sheen and pride should be added elsewhere.


I was looking forward to visiting Sheba, having heard good things about it from friends. Having already eaten at several of the Brick Lane curry houses it was interesting to find out that this was one of the originals, established in 1974.

Knowing that it had won the best curry house award in the Cobra Good Curry Guide 2013, I had high expectations, and am pleased to say that Sheba more than lived up to them.

The staff were great – the perfect balance between being attentive and over-fussy, and our waiter was happy to recommend dishes.

I’ve always thought the key to getting a good curry is delving into the house specialties and regional dishes on offer and our waiter was happy to make recommendations.

We tried a shafi ghust, which is a traditional Bengalese dish of slow cooked lamb with pumpkin, in a sweet and medium-hot sauce, and a khora bhuna – finely diced slow cooked lamb with fresh herbs.

Both of them were fantastic and cooked to perfection, the meat was melt-in-the-mouth good and it was obvious that everything had been produced from fresh.

As well as its specials I judge a curry house by the quality of its standard sides and starters. The sheek kebabs were also recommended by our waiter and were moist and full of flavour. We also had onion bhaji, vegetable samosas and peshwari nan, which were all very high standard.

Their website says that they attribute their long-lasting success to excellent customer service, comfortable environment and use of premium quality fresh produce. After my visit I would say it is certainly hard to disagree with any of that. It’s rare to find a curry house that gets all three of these essential factors spot on, and getting harder in London. But Sheba certainly comes highly recommended from me.


There was glass in the curry dish that landed in my friends mouth. We were not compensated (price reduction etc) for this and when staff offered to replace the dish they repeatedly kept returning to 'check' with us that we really wanted another dish! The restaurant is very small and the staff were inappropriately and physically close to us, leaning on our chairs and 'accidentally' brushing against us. They placed two complimentary chocolates at the end of the meal with the bill when there were 3 of us and then took them away without leaving us a chance to even have one! Lamb was undercooked.