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re: mzungu
Contrary to what some people have said upthread, I just want to say here that I found Quilon to be overpriced and pretty bad. Supposedly Keralite food...hmm. As someone who has spent a lot of time in Kerala, I can say I have had MUCH better for MUCH cheaper. Not worth it at all.
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Quilon
41 Buckingham Gate, London, Greater London SW1E 6, GB-
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re: JFores
Fair enough. Personally, I say that if you know anything about Keralite food, you may well be disappointed. I think for me it's because that kind of food has a special place in my heart. In addition, even though we have North Indian roots, we cook a lot of it at home and do it well :P
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I go to the Star of India on Old Brompton which my family loves (and which I formerly detested, and slowly found to love as well). The owner is a cool dude (he used to be on the TV) and the service is really excellent. It's somewhere between a curry house and a Benares type restaurant!
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I'd like to know if Tayabs is the best for Pakistani food?
I'll be visiting from the States in June and looking for good North Indian, Pakistani or Afghan?›15 Replies-
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re: fvande
Tayyabs is one of the best if not the best. As Jon says, Khan's is also very good. I also frequently go to the Lahore Kebab House on Church Street in Marylebone. Both of the latter have much more accessible locations from Central London.
The standard for South Asian food in London is quite high, and IMHO a place like Tayyabs rates quite highly even against my regular haunts in Pakistan itself
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re: howler
Re: Khan's, I admit its been a few years since I last ate there, but when I went, it was certainly not a "Bengali curry house"... I didn't sample their saucier/more exotic dishes (don't remember if they even had many), but their seekh kebabs, chicken boti, etc and accompaniments were very much done in the traditional Pakistani/North Indian style that I grew up on.
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re: Russian
howler
Jan 27, 2011 12:01 PM
oh i'd beg to differ. how often does a chicken boti show up on an indian menu?! i for one have never seen it, and would certainly be nervous about ordering it.
also, khans is not bengali, its bangla deshi run - along with over 90% of all 'indian' curry house restaurants in the uk.
khans wouldn't survive a nanosecond in mumbai. guaranteed.
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re: Russian
Russian, Sounds like I should stick to Tayyabs for Pakistani food?
I'm an American of Pak/Indian descent and having been to Karachi
a few times, I found Tayyabs to be pretty good last summer
and look forward to returning.If you can strongly recommend any other Pakistani places in London, please let me know but we may stick to Tayyabs and get to Lahore Kabob or Khans if we have time.
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re: howler
Russian & Howler, thanks!
My Mom is Pakistani and Dad is Indian, so I tend to favor northern Indian and Pakistani cuisine. The Indian food in NYC is pretty good,
but it's really hard to find Pakistani food in the States.Thanks for all the great recommendations. Tayyabs has a pretty strong reputation in the States among Desis :)
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re: Russian
I'm white (hurray legitimization) and I'd really press you to go for Needoo or Lahore rather than Tayyabs. Also, I prefer Lahore Lahore Eh in East Ham to either of those, but that's obviously a longer (but far more interesting) trip. Their grilled items are about on par with Needo but their karahi, veg, etc is all much better.
Similarly, Kebabish on Green St has better grilled items. Longer trip though. Whitechapel is by no means the epicenter of good Pakistani food in London or even in East London.
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re: Russian
Is the Lahore in Church Street any good? A mate mentioned that it's a branch of the one in Whitechapel but i'm not fully convinced as the website of the one in whitechapel does not list it as one of it's branches. In any case, not so concerned if it's a branch as i guess that's no measure of the standard. Main question is how's the food there??
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re: Russian
Is Lahore on Church Street still open? Google is not yielding an address or mention. If it's still around, can someone let me know the address? Am in London for the next few days and don't think I'll be able to get out to the more far-flung Indian and Pakistani restaurants, though I'd love to.
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don't ever let anyone recommend brick lane to you for serious indian food. it's fine for a pre-night out with friends or for non-foodie friends. but you really need to seek out the chennai dosas etc. in southall and wembley. that's a no-brainer.
tayyab's and lahore are amazing but they're both pakistani. you couldn't tell from all the grilled meat?
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my favourite is Kastoori in tooting which has never let me down - try the tomato curry and chapatis ( you can never order too many) - centrally moti mahal is just ok and so is imli on wardour street (better that mm in my opinion) - most of the local indians is normally better for bog standard indian than the central ones - kebab rolls are best where you can see them making the naan or see them grilling the kebabs on the stick - should be made fresh - the food already made and laid out is also normally a good sign.
If you must go to brick lane try Shalamar - the only one I like - othwerwise walk over to whitechapel and Tayyabs, Lahore and Needoos seems to be the ones. -
Bombay Palace between Paddington and Marble Arch is excellent. It is not cheap but it is quality. Also they have locations in midtown NYC (very good) and Beverly Hills (the bronze medal of the three. Don't go to Brick Lane...
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re: PhilD
howler
Jan 15, 2010 06:32 PM
none whatsoever. i grew up - till 21 - in bombay, eating parsi, gujarathi, keralan, tamilian, syrian christian, bhoji, goan, konkani, bengali, punjabi, marwari, mangalorean, hyderabadi, kashmiri, rajasthani, irani, karnataka, udipi etc.
who cares a toss about michelin?
indian zing .. now we're talking,
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re: PhilD
PhilD
Jan 16, 2010 11:06 AM
I should also give the names of the restaurants as well as the chefs in case people are interested in trying any of the five Indian restaurants in London to hold Michelin stars: Rasoi, Amaya, Benares (reopens after a kitchen fire in spring '10), Tamarind and Quilon.
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re: howler
dear howler, i will be travelling to london alone for a short trip next month. after reading many post on chowhounds and going over their respective websites, i have come down with the short list of indian restaurants of quilon, moti mahal and indian zing. although moti mahal is my favourites, it is not open on sunday (most likely i would only be able to schedule my indian meal on sunday), which one would you suggest that i should choose, quilon or indian zing?? coming from hong kong and having spent quite number of years in sydney, i have had a lot of indian meals, except i believe they are mostly "localised" and not truely authentic. with a large indian population in UK, i am trying to look for something authentic in a more upscale restaurant (what i mean is somewhere clean and comfortable, not the cheap fast food feel kind of place). thank you.
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re: Tweety2004
howler
Aug 16, 2010 08:26 AM
quilon is keralan and indian zing has a number of maharastrian veg dishes (the chef is maharastrian). so it depends on what you're looking for. both are authentic.
if your looking for authentic immigrants cooking for each other fare, you are probably looking at a trek out to east ham; search these boards for j fores' posts re thatakudda etc.
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re: howler
thank you howler for the analysis. however i'm no expert on indian cuisine, the most i could tell is northern or southern indian. but it seems that both keralan and maharashtra are kind of in the south. so what are the distinct characteristic of each of these cuisine? i'm not particularly looking for veg dishes but would like to try if that is what the cuisine is famous for.
i think i'll give east ham a miss this time 'cos time is short on the current trip. but i'll keep in mind if i do get to visit london again in future.
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re: howler
thanks! i just realised that moti mahal's last seating is 11pm which means that i may be able to do a post theatre dinner on monday night. though their tasting menus look interesting on their website, do you think that the cooking at moti mahal is more geared towards "westernised" than quilon? as i mentioned before, i want something authentic and not anglo indian.
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re: howler
howler, if you told me to jump off of a bridge, I would. We had the tasting menu at Quilon for dinner and spent ten minutes discussing if we had EVER had a better meal anywhere in the world. The wine was well matched to the food and the service was attentive, without smothering! I was reluctant to eat the next day for fear of overwriting the experience my taste buds had. Thank you for contributing to this board! I do not have the words to express how divine the food was! THANK YOU!
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Quilon
41 Buckingham Gate, London, Greater London SW1E 6, GB-
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re: slwscout
I had a tasting menu @ Quilon for one, after reading the numerous recs on this board. Honestly, I was disappointed. I'm from the San Francisco Bay Area and there is a sizable Indian population where we live, but I've always been told that our Indian restaurant choices are somewhat poor (and eating in a home is the only way to experience authenticity). So I had high hopes for this taste test. If I compare it to any great eating experience I've had, not just Indian restaurants, I would say only the dessert was memorable in any way. I loved every bite of the warm rice kheer with fresh fruits, rose kulfi, and a southern indian coffee. But the rest of the food struck me as a bit one dimensional--too many proteins presented solo with no accompaniment to help vary the taste: grilled scallop w mango and chili (flavors a little muddy), mapla chicken, tomato?/coriander broth, prawn byadgi (simple taste of grilled prawn), lamb shank (good spicing, just fine, but not great), mango curry (yogurt flavor too dominant for me). The spicing was subtle, not spicy in any way, but not memorable for me, unfortunately.
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Brick Lane? You've got to be kidding? It's catering for people who've already anaesthetised their taste buds early in the evening . . . identikit dishes, not a great atmosphere.
Walk five minutes east round to the back of Whitechapel mosque and go to New Tayyabs for their magical Pakistani grill food.
For South Indian food there are a couple of very worthwhile places in Tooting.
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I know I'm late chiming in, but I ate at Haandi off Brompton in Knightsbridge a while back and it was fabulous.
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re: LMS1108
I am even later adding my 2 rupees' worth - My family and I are very fond of the "Farhana Indian Restaurant" in Barking, Essex. We eat there regularly and particularly enjoy some of the vegetarian dishes - Chilli Paneer for example.
Incidentally it all costs a fraction of what you would pay at some of the other places which have been mentioned and is BYOB. It just goes to show that the price and decor sometimes have very little to do with either the quality of the food or the overall dining experience.
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re: JFores
loobcom
Jan 18, 2010 11:12 PM
Reading about Farhana here and on another blog, I took my son there for dinner last week. The complete absence of other diners and my instincts should have prevented me from entereing. Unfortunately this was not the case.
and I did not heed the alarm bells that were ringing in my head.Shortly after ordering, the waiter appeared and told us that he was not sure whether the meat he had was lamb or beef. This should have been a further warning.
By this time, humour and cheerfulness had taken over and the knowledge that sometimes in life you have to eat _ _ _ _ and I suppose that it was just as well done here than anywhere else.
So the food arrived. It was abominable as expected. We left without touching it. Without being asked, perhaps through pangs of guilt, the waiter had as some recompense, already reduced the bill by one third.
Sadly, during the 40 minutes or so we spent there, not one other customer entered, nor did the phone ring. This should been another warning.
I have a feeling, the favourable reviews that are popping up here and elsewhere are, how can I put it kindly, rather fanciful.
JFores, spend you cash elsewhere.
Avoid.
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re: lettuce
Based on this forum we went to New Tayyabs on Fieldgate (aldgate east or whitechapel tube) when visiting London the other night. Food was excellent-- my husband said the best curry he'd ever had-- and the price was right. Also, the place had so much life to it. That said, even though we'd called in a booking and were on their list it still took 30 minutes to be seated and not without being a bit assertive with the host to make sure we'd get the seat. Of course there were probably 50 people in line (no reservation), so we felt like royalty. But it's not for the faint of heart getting a table-- sort of a fragrant, riotous chaos. They pack you in and out of there but the lamb chops and the eggplant curries were delicious. BYOB.
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re: howler
loobcom
Nov 17, 2006 11:51 AM
Its on the other side of Commercial Road from Umberston Street. To me, it has the atmoshere, furnishings and food of an Indian Canteen. I have eaten there a few times, but alsways seem to return to The Lahore or Tayyabs. As far as the restaurants of Brick Lane are concerned, I recently had a decent meal at a place opposite the Mosque. I think it was called Cham Pan.
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re: loobcom
Could you help me with this, then? There's what I remember as a Mirch Masala restaurant somewhere on the north side of Lower Tooting Road or its extension. I'd like to go back because the food was good, but all I remember about the location is that we got out of the tube at Tooting Broadway or Tooting Bec and walked west for a number of blocks to get there. The interior was brightly lit sith a lot of bare tables set close together, and you reached the washrooms via a staircase on the right hand side of the dining room (from front facing rear). Does this description correspond to any known Mirch Masala?
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re: loobcom
A few days before Christmas I tried the Commercial Road location of Mirch Masala rather than making the Trek to the Upper Tooting Road location, and went back again the next day. I agree with Loobcom's description of the atmosphere but the food was great. Fresh ingredients, pungent masalas. But BYOB.
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Brick Lane is good, but considered by most serious indian or bangledeshis to be homogomeous and uninspired. For the best indian in that area, make your way to the huge modern mosque which is a ten minute walk from brick lane, once you are there ask people where the newish indian place is. I forget the name but was directed there by an indian business man my third day in london as I hunted for authentic indian.
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I would like to echo Moz's comments- Seek out Brick Lane for a more authentic selection.
Brick Lane is the most famous area for South Asian food and markets but Southall is definetly worth checking out.
Here is an article I found on thelondonpaper's website-
and if that doesn't work,
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Dont want to be a pretentious curry snob but I guess it depends on what kind of curry you want. If you want a traditional Indian restaurant with a buffet then candy is quite right to suggest Bombay Brasserie, it is excellent.
For a more "real" and authentic experience you may like to try one of the many restaurants on Brick Lane.
For "Posh" curry then I love Zaika and The Red Fort. They have taken Indian food to a whole new level.
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Candy
Nov 9, 2006 08:23 PM
Howler directed us to Bombay Brasserie. We went for the lunch buffet. It was wonderful. The spicing was very subtle and I liked that I could taste individual spices clearly. Lunch there is a deal.
Another suggestion of his was Randa which is Lebanese and most excellent. We ended up with 3 meals there (one was take out) the first time we just ordered the set menu for 2 and there was enough for 4 andd the courses just kept coming. The next we met Howler there and since he knew the place so well just had him order. It was really good and due to a power failure in our flat the night beofre we left, my DH wnet back and got take out for us. The company has several restaurants. Where will you be staying? I can let you know which is closest if you are interested.
