Zaika

We visited Zaika midweek for dinner for two. The restaurant is in a very nice former bank building with very high ceilings and woodpanelled walls. Service was very friendly, attentative and joyful. The meal began with a pre-starter which was very good for me and absolutely outstanding for my wife. This made us very hopeful indeed for the rest of the meal. Unfortunately, the rest of the evening was more hit and miss. My starter, coconut soup, was excellent while the prawn platter for my wife was less of a success but still ok. The main of cod for my wife was again very good indeed, while disaster struck in the form of my Lamb Biryani which was not exciting in flavour, in fact rather bland, the rice a little harder than it should have been and the Raita far too cold. I want to assume that this was an accident and I have to say that the reaction by the staff was generous. The waiter enquired about our opinion and when hearing that we did not enjoy the Biryani asked what it was that we did not enjoy to report back to the kitchen. Shortly after, the head waiter came asked us about the Biryani and offered free desserts as compensation. We appreciated this gesture all the more as these desserts were excellent.

My last visit is more than a year ago and on that occasion I was very pleased indeed, so I hope that our experience was one of those rare events that occasionally happen. With its setting and the very good service this could be a superb place, if the quality of the food would be consistently as high as some of the dishes we had and in particular the pre-starter.
Comment on this reader review

Martin
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 7
Friday, November 25, 2005