Indian City, London. (3rd July 2014)

Lee visited the Indian City tonight, a recommendation made to Lee nearly a year ago but somewhere he has failed to visit!

Poppadoms and a large cold Cobra got the evening started. Standard 4 pickles accompanied the poppadoms.

Lee was meeting his cousin, Martin for a catch up, the first in a long time!! For starters Lee had a predictable Paneer Tikka with Martin selecting the Green Chicken Tikka. The paneer was fresh, so on the softer side and with only 2 pieces was slightly disappointing.

For main, Martin boldly ordered Lamb Phall, which drew a rye smile from the waiter (the first and only one of the evening), with Lee wimping out with just a veg Vinda. The food came and the dishes were good! Lee felt a light sweat appear on his brow and Martin commented the same. Lee did notice a slight bulging of Martin's eyes but he covered the heat well and went on the clear his plate.

Overall a good curry and being so close to the office, one that will be revisited again.

4 New Bridge Street

London

EC4V 6AA

Tel: 020 7353 5525

Website: http://indiancity.co.uk/

Moti Mahal, Covent Garden. (28th June 2012)

Lee's latest evening was at Moti Mahal, Covent Garden. And to set the scene, maybe the best Indian meal Lee has ever had, well in the top 3!

The open kitchen is a nice touch and the atmosphere was relaxed for this top end Indian restaurant. In the party of 8, 5 choose the tasting menu and 3 from the al-a-cart. Lee went for the vegetarian taster menu.

Popodoms were served with 4 pickles, a mango chutney and mint sauce and 2 Lee had not encountered before, mushroom chutney and chicken chutney. The mushroom chutney was lovely.

To compliment the popodoms and starters a plate of salad was bought to the table. Interestingly, the salad was uncut and a knife was provided to 'self serve'.

The starter consisted of:

- malai saunfia paneer, paneer with fennel. Amazing flavour and texture, ashame was only one piece, could have eaten that all night!

- bhalla papadi chaat, a chickpea dish served with yogurt, tamarind and mint chutney. Served cold with a fresh taste, lacking a little bit of flavour

- katli, stuffed aubergine steak, full of flavour and a nice kick of spice, another amazing dish!

Mains followed, consisting of:

-wild mushroom kofta. The mushroom kofta had a firm texture in a sweet sauce which worked very well

- saag paneer, chunks of paneer is a dry sauce

-dal makhani, was the star of the show, full of complex flavours with a smooth consistency was beautiful, by far the best flavour on the table and that was amongst some amazing dishes.

-kararee bhyein, fried lotus stem with peanut and coriander, again tremendous flavours on this crispy little offering, eaten with the raita added to the flavour

The extra green chilli added the extra zing to bring everything alive (except George with his rather delicate southern palet). Served with raita, nan bread and saffron baked rice.

Price, well, prices were good for a top end London restaurant, but a different league to the boys usual establishment, but as my nan used to say, you get what you pay for and if you enjoy it, price doesn't matter - it was definitely one of those meals (to be fair, the veggie taster menu listed above was a reasonable £43 a head).

Overall, an amazing meal, plenty of food and a great atmosphere. Very highly recommend for a special night out or as a well deserved treat!

45 Great Queen Street
London.
WC2B 5AA

Tel: 020 7240 9329

Website: http://www.motimahal-uk.com/

Indali Lounge, Baker Street, London (13th April 2012)

The latest venture out was to the recommended Indali Lounge on Baker St, London. Reportedly the healthiest curry in the world!

The occasion was Lee's birthday and he was joined with wife Emma, Ian and Emma (Emma 2) and Liz and Richard!

Complimentary popodoms accompanied with mango chutney, onion chutney and mint sauce, then a complementary spicy lentil soup and crispy mushroom followed. A tasty surprise!

Lee struggled to choose a starter as the 8 veggie starters all sounded fantastic! Lee decided on having 2, Paneer 3 ways and chat baked aloo tikki. Both would have scored 10! Emma and Richard went for crispy mushroom masala, Ian and Liz joined lee with Paneer 3 ways and chat baked Aloo tikki respectively. Emma 2 chose lonavala crispy batatawade (lentil balls), which Emma 2 said was a little bland.

Mains, Lee had pander tava jaipurifor, a lovely shredded Paneer and veggies dish with extra spice, Liz had the same with regular spice, sindhi sai bhaji (spinach and veg) for Emma, Richard and Ian going for the old delhi chicken kofta, but reported the dish to be on the bland side lacking flavour and spice, Emma 2 kashmir chicken (v nice at a 9) with some healthy garlic chilli nan and saffron rice. Just the one side of black dal makhni.

Plenty of booze accompanied the meal, including two bottles of wine and the bill came in at £37 a head, so very reasonably priced for a high end London establishment!

Very highly recommended, and one the club will be returning to, to conduct an official review and full scoring.

50 Baker Street
London
W1U 7BT

Tel: 020 7224 2232

Website: http://www.indalilounge.com/