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EastzEast (Blackfriars)

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"Service was pretty slow.  Took ages for the starters to arrive.  Poppadoms were a mixed bag.  7 sauces!  Almost incurred hundreds of pounds of dental work by chomping on an unexpected stone in the plum chutney.  Didn't try the mixed pickle as it looked too spicy. Never been a fan of lime pickle, other sauces nice.  My starter was very nice.  Chicken boti I think.  Main course (lamb shashlik) was reasonably good but was a bit hotter than I was expecting (the lamb not the sauce).  Rice was a bit greasy.  Naan breads extremely large and we didn't come close to finishing them.  Have the EastzEast staff not seen people starving in Africa on the news?"

"Wow - my first impression of this place was that it looked amazing.  The bar area was really cool and the view when you descended into the restaurant was a pleasant surprise.  The toilets were of a high standard - they even had those Dyson had dryers.  Based on the decor, I was really expecting great things form the menu, but I must admit that I was left disappointed by the food.  My chicken shashlik sizzler was a bit of a let down - the chicken didn't seem to taste of anything and the sauce was bland too.  The mushroom pakora starter was better, although the salad looked a bit cheap.  I think the price tag (£30 a head including drinks) was justified by the surroundings but not the quality of the food (you pay a similar price in Shimla Pinks and the food is far better there).  Overall 3.5 out of 5 (great looks but I have had better tasting food in Rusholme)."

"'Twas with both delight and admiration that I cast my mince pies [um, eyes] upon your website.  Rarely have I such a concatenation of useful information, amusing anecdotes and essential links.  'Tis my duty, I now feel, to give something back to said website by way of a review vis-à-vis Thursday night's culinary escapade, at the place that is EastzEast.  From the get-go, we were welcomed by a friendly shaman - whose age easily surpasses Master Yoda's - and yet even more impressive was the plethora of Cobra beer available at the bar inside the entrance.

After ample pre-meal lubrication of the larynx, we were escorted down a sweeping stair case, down into a room of biblical proportions. We were quickly seated and soon bombarded with towers of poppadoms along with interesting and tasty (and labelled) dips. Service for food was slowm, but hey, who's rushing on a curry night out - not me sir - and on the flip-side, drinks were easy to come by.  My chicken boti starter was as tasty as its name is funny - very!  [Er, think it's pronounced "bo-tee" rather than "botty"...]  The main meal, in my case balti chicken tikka keema was delicious and, although its spices kicked like the proverbial, it definitely did not contain the aforementioned proverbial.  The meal was concluded beautifully with a hot lemony towel and alas, as full as one of Jordan's bras - and just as happy - we climbed back up the winding stairs, said goodbye to the Cobra bar and the shaman said good night.  How right the wise man was."

"A lovely place.  The setting is excellent.  It does actually feel quite special as you walk down the stairs into the HUGE main restaurant area.  Chicken seekh kebab - This was OK. To be honest I think the meat doesn't really stand up to the strong flavours of the spices used. I think the standard seekh kebab works better. However it was an adequate size and the meat was succulent.  Kahari chicken dopiaza - not too much dopiaza going on there!  However, the sauce was lovely - one of the best I've tasted.  Rich flavour and an excellent balance of spice.  Again, however, either the chicken was not the tastiest to start with or perhaps the spice too overpowering for the chicken full stop.  Maybe I'll try the lamb version next time.  I would also say that I think the meat was a thigh meat and I prefer breasts rather than legs.  Sundries all a good standard.  Liked the explanation of the contents of each dip on the tray liner.  A pleasant experience all in all.  Would definitely go back but would say I prefer Akbars and SPs."

"Too much beer on face.  Too much beer in stomach.  Full match report to follow...."

[Much time passed...] "They've an excellent little greeting man that they're so proud of they have his picture on the front of the menu; high praise indeed.  The decor is trez bon, as they say on the Continent [sort of], complete with lights that change colour (a subtle miasma of purple-into-green, or the terrifying paranoia of blue-into-red) - I think it is amongst the nicest curry houses to spend time in, although it would struggle against a well-padded Akbar's booth.

A plentiful range of dips (with several different ones to my last visit, so I think we can assume they have a countably infinite number of varieties), which pleases me, as I'd rather have bits of lots of things than lots of bits of a thing. My pre-starter infidelity habits aside, the dips offer a good range, from nice mango chutney to deliciously aggressive pickle.  Big, big plus point for me.  My starter was obligatory messy tikka chops, which I promptly shovelled into my own messy tikka chops.  Good stuff, although I have had better, and it perhaps could have done with more lemon, and being brought on earlier. I like to combine my poppadums and starters, as if they were prostitutes dressed as Nazis.

My main course was a Saag Murgh Handi, or syllables to that effect.  Garlicy, which was very good.  I've had it there before, and should branch out in future, because although it is flavoursome, and I felt the meat was actually pretty nice, it was all a tiny wee bit rich (or was it oily?  Either way, it was perhaps slightly too smooth, which perhaps wasn't helped by my copious consumption of mango lassi, which was sweet as divine ambrosia, more brightly coloured, and probably about as expensive).

The dessert was a man that covers your eyes and holds your nose, then pours a largely full bottle of Cobra over your face (*not* your mouth), while blaming you for the whole incident [look, we'd been sat there for hours with an empty table; only the lightest of lightweights would not have finished their small bottle of Cobra in this time].  It felt very authentic, and I would recommend it as an experience, but I think next time I'll get the ice-cream.  The bill was ever-so-slightly crippling, but not as much as the (presumably spiked) cobra/lassi combo, which forced me to spend the next day a ticking time-bomb cursing my own existence and staring a dread gaze like a softer-looking Nemanja Vidic.  Thankfully I had hours of independence training to numb the pain, and make me aware of risks, thus improving my poker skills.  4 and a 1/2 stars, if price is no object."
 

"Another affirmation of the view that city centre curry houses are flash, a bit pricey and do better quality food than their neon adorned cousins on the curry mile.  The curry house was reasonably busy when we went in, but had no problems a la Akbars or the old EastzEast waiting for the table.  Started with poppadoms and a choice of 6 or 7 dips including a cracking garlic pickle, and then chicken wings which were essentially a spicier version of Krunchy Fried Chicken (halfway down curry mile on the right hand side, well worth a visit for the family chicken box).

For the main, I went with some kind of chicken and king prawn chana handi which was maybe on the mild side of medium but full of flavour and containing generous amounts of king prawn.  As a city centre curry house it had the obligatory huge naans on sticks, which is obviously a good thing for connoisseurs of huge naans on sticks like myself, but which do stop you talking to people further down the table (or even seeing them).  Overall, good quality food, loads of Cobras and pleasant surroundings make this a firm favourite.  And spaceman poured [half - thought empty] a bottle of Cobra over brungerio, which rounded off the meal nicely."

"This was my third visit to EastzEast as it is now my nearest curry house.  After a false start with a biryani the first time, my ordering has improved.  I especially enjoyed one of taco's charred cheesy prawns and I could actually taste the seafood in my seafood balti.  Service was a slow - I'm sure this was something to do with the huge party sitting behind us.  It was also a bit pushy - how many times do I have to say no to a starter?  I was kind of surprised (although glad) that some extra samosas didn't appear."