Latest favourites and wishlist by DHalcro

Mirch Masala - review by chrisp

Mon, 01 Sep 2008 11:45:47 +0000

Mirch Masala - review by chrisp

Rating: 4.4

Location: 111-113 Commercial Road, E1 1RD, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7377 6700

Tags: indian, family & home feel, cheap eat

Well, you could have knocked me down with a poppadum. For weeks, if not months, a friend of mine had been trying to persuade me to try Mirch Masala on Commercial Street, and of course I thought the very idea was insane. "Why on earth," I would say, "if I was going to eat anywhere in Whitechapel, would I go anywhere other than Tayyabs?". And given the sheer consistency and quality of the food there, I think you would agree I had a point. But more recently the buzz of recommendations for Mirch Masala had reached a even more deafening level as I learned a couple of colleagues at work at been and declared it (brace yourselves) "possibly" even better than Tayyabs. So that was that - on Friday evening I wandered down.

The menu was reassuringly Tayyabs-like in style, though perhaps slightly more extensive with a much larger vegetarian selection and some interesting Karahi options. We ordered a plate of sizzling lamb and chicken wing tikka, and on arrival you could immediately tell this was a kitchen with a supreme command of the grill. They were - and it almost pains me to say it - every bit as good as the grill from Tayyabs, succulent and salty and dripping with fantastic tandoori spicing.

The chilli naan was decent enough (nothing has yet beaten the garlic naan from Lahore over the road in my book, it's just a shame everything else there doesn't live up to it) but the Masala Bhindi was amazingly rich and meaty for a dish containing no meat, and the Karahi Chilli Chicken, despite containing slightly dry pieces of chicken, had such a wonderful tomatoey, herby sauce that I almost licked the bowl clean. Great stuff.

So, and here comes something I never thought I'd say, Mirch Masala may have done enough to replace Tayyabs as my curry house of choice in the East End. It's not just because of the food, either - although Mirch will certainly give them a run for their money. The problem is, thanks to people like me going on about how good Tayyabs is, it's more or less impossible to get in these days unless you turn up at 5:30pm or are willing to wait for two hours. And once you're in, securing a spot with enough room to use your elbows and not have people knocking you on the back of the head on the way to the toilets is yet another challenge. Mirch Masala serves tasty, cheap food in infinitely more relaxed (if rather canteen-y) surroundings and is a big enough restaurant that you don't have to sprint there after work to get a table. It has everything going for it. Let's just see how long it takes for the rest of the city to catch on... can you keep a secret?

Mirch Masala - review by drhk

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 13:44:26 +0000

Mirch Masala - review by drhk

Rating: 4.4

Location: 111-113 Commercial Road, E1 1RD, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7377 6700

Very nice place for a weekend meal with family

Mirch Masala - review by Sami

Sat, 01 Mar 2008 18:02:20 +0000

Mirch Masala - review by Sami

Rating: 4.4

Location: 111-113 Commercial Road, E1 1RD, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7377 6700

Tags: lively, cheap eat, good value, crowded, indian

... almost spectacular, for the price.

5 of us ate - make that feasted - last night for 52 pounds. It's a place a few of my friends frequent on the weekly basis as they have found that this canteen-style restaurant and local favourite for the South Asian community, packs quite the culinary punch.

Indian cuisine is by no means my favourite but I was game to go for a curry since my last Indian meal was pretty awful and I felt that I needed a redeeming experience. To start, we had 2 orders of onion bhajis, lightly coated in gram flour and deep-fried so that they came out entangled almost like a bird's nest. They were absolutely delicious and to be honest I'm having a hard time writing this because I am shocked at how good the food was... on to some excellent samosas, and then for our mains we had a lovely chicken tikka masala, grilled and then marinated in a beautiful sauce with fresh and lightly sauteed green peppers, an incredibly tender lamb gosht, a very gingery chicken dish, pilau rice, saag paneer and bombay potatoes, both excellent. It was all exceptionally good, but I think my favourite had to be the peshwari naan - I quite liked their take on it and it tasted as if I was eating some sort of gently spiced dessert bread as opposed to the overly coconutty concoction I ate, the last time I had Indian food.

The mango lassi was great - really refreshing and very mango-ey tasting, which is more than I can say for many that I've had in the past. Maybe I might be belting its praises out a bit too much, but it has quite the little accolade of dining guide stickers on the front door and the sheer amount of people stampeding in and out of the front doors is enough of a testament that I'm not the only one taken with the place.

Romantic it isn't - but at least they don't dress the restaurant up in the hopes that they will fob you off with ambience and jack up the price. Although the tables needed a bit of a wipe, the service was friendly and fast, and the waiters seemed happy to explain parts of the menu we didn't understand. This is South Indian food for Indians, and damn good it is.

Mirch Masala - review by rkn

Sun, 25 Mar 2007 14:29:57 +0000

Mirch Masala - review by rkn

Rating: 4.4

Location: 111-113 Commercial Road, E1 1RD, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7377 6700

The best Indian restaurant. Very cheap and basic, but great tasting food and a nice atmosphere.

Mirch Masala - review by DHalcro

Fri, 23 Mar 2007 08:44:17 +0000

Mirch Masala - review by DHalcro

Rating: 4.4

Location: 111-113 Commercial Road, E1 1RD, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7377 6700

Great food, great price, well worth a visit