Indian Zest

Great Food and professional service. The best Indian food i have ever had. The decor is so nice and reminds me of my visit to India. Will be back soon.
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Rebecca Borton
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 10
Sunday, May 18, 2008

We decided to visit Indian Zest after reading a couple of reviews in the Guardian & a foody mag. We were delighted with the delicious homemade pappadums and pickles & relish which we nibbled on while choosing our starters. The cucumber raita was made with a thick, creamy yogurt, and the coriander chutney was a luscious (and totally natural) green colour and had a real zing. Service was charming & friendly. It was an excellent beginning.

I had a warm starter of prawns & aubergine served with a caramelized onion, tomato & pickle masala which was really tasty & my partner had ‘vegetable bhanavla’ – a sort of onion bhaji only steamed & griddled rather than deep-fried. Yum.

For mains I had lobster tails in a spicy Goan sauce. On the menu it said it was served with a ‘timbale of spicy semolina’ which I’d been really looking forward to as it sounded so unusual. However, when the dish arrived the waiter muttered something about it being served with today’s special of lemon & ginger rice rather than the semolina and made a quick exit. I was pretty disappointed, especially as up till then service had been excellent. However, the rice was delicious and my partner was really happy with his lamb shank braised in a robust gravy of poppy seeds, onions, ginger & spices. We had a fantastic side dish of bottle gourd and pumpkin cooked with lentils and mustard seeds. It was great to see something other than the traditional aloo gobi and sag bhaji on the menu. We ordered three organic roti to go with our meal but the waiter said he thought that two would be plenty – he was right!

We washed this down with a very nice & reasonably priced bottle of house white and then had a couple of coffees to finish. The desserts sounded good – rasmalai and gulub jamun – but we were too full.

As we were tucked away in a corner we found as the restaurant got busier during the evening (it was a Saturday night) that we tended to be forgotten and had to wait ages to pay our bill. However, the restaurant has only been open a couple of months so a few hiccups with service is to be expected I suppose.

The food is incredible value and a breath of fresh air. We’ll definitely be back soon.
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Lucy
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 10
Tuesday, April 15, 2008