Mirch Masala
Restaurant - Indian in London
111-113 Commercial Road
Shadwell
London
Greater London
E1 1RD
Contact Numbers
Reviews
Can you keep a secret?
I am a religious follower of food at Lahore Kebab House & Tayyabs but I was getting a bit fed up of their over-popularity and nowadays quite expensive meals. So based on a recommendation by a car park attendant at Sainsbury's we decided to try it. Well, what a pleasant surprise it was. Food was as good as the other two (known to be the the bees-knees). The Karela dahl was superb, better than the other two by miles. Everything was quite reasonable in price considering it's decor was no less down market than the other two. After all you go to these places for the great food and the ability to bring your own booze. So there was nothing lacking here. The manager was so attentive. Every time he saw us looking for a waiter to order more, he sent on of them straight over to us nearly at once. Very quick serving times as well. OK, all these places have a limited repertoire in menu items. But that is exactly what veterans need. Well for the present it is good bye Lahore & Tayyabs. Well of course until MM goes greedy and inflate their prices unnecessarily. The impressive bit about this MM restaurant chain is that they have got their presence in so many places especially like Southall, where they will have a very discerning and veteran clientele and if they have survived over there- what more can one say. They are just opening one in Ilford and in a couple of month's in my Harrow area. I can hardly wait! . By the way MM could you get some proper wine glasses next time. Cheers and all the best!
A User - 09/09/2009 | report this review
tan and emma
i have nt seen such a gr8 place for eating in east london the staff is very caring n specially they know the needs of cutmers n just ready to help them i love to eat their starters specially grilled ones
tanveer tani - 14/10/2008 | report this review
Tayyabs-beater!
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?
A User - 11/09/2008 | report this review
Bloody good...
... 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.
A User - 06/03/2008 | report this review
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