Tamarind 2

I wasn’t thinking about coming back here, since it’s not the best Indian restaurant I’ve been to, but it was December, and I couldn’t get a booking at both Cinnamon Club and Cinnamon Kitchen, so this was available.

Food

We were given complimentary poppadums this time around, but it wasn’t very exciting as always, but useful to pass the time when ordering and waiting. I had a Sweet lassi which was not sweet, and not very aromatic, and not really needed as the food was not spicy.

We ordered from the limited pre-theatre menu:

• Spiced potato cake with a filling of spinach with garlic and dried fenugreek leaves, drizzled with tamarind chutney - the texture of the potato cake was like eating mash potatoes, but I do like the addition of the spinach and the yummy tamarind chutney.
• Elwy valley Welsh lamb cutlets marinated with garlic, royal cumin, chillies and turmeric; served on mint chutney - good quality lamb, good sauce, not too much that could go wrong there
• Tandoori broccoli marinated with honey, nigella seeds, ground spices, chilli and lemon; Skewered ground lamb kebab with garlic, green chilli, cheese and spices, finished with mixed peppers; Supreme of chicken marinated with ginger, green chilli, cream cheese, coriander stem and cardamom - sounded like a lot of stuff going on, but in actual fact, was not a huge dish. Surprisingly my favourite was the broccoli, beautifully marinated, soft on the inside but not to the point of being mushy. The lamb kebab was a bit dull to be honest, certainly packing a punch with the strong favours, but too strong for my liking. The worst of the three was the chicken though. A tough piece of chicken breast, too dry and not much flavour to it.
• Supreme of chicken marinated with ginger, green chillies and fenugreek leaves - the curry choice. Very mild sauce, reminds me of butter chicken. Good with all the accompaniment though
• Yellow lentils finished with garlic, cumin, tomatoes and fresh coriander - - like the lentils dish from last time, not very special
• Seasonal vegetables with onion, tomato and freshly ground peppercorns - I like this as the vegetables were still crunchy and had a nice fresh flavour with some heat
• Naan Bread - dull, but does the job
• Braised rice with browned onions and saffron - ditto
• Warm pudding of basmati rice with milk flavoured with cinnamon and cloves - I didn’t like this. Way too sweet and too much spicing.
• Indian Ice cream flavoured with mango - nice, but it’s only ice cream
• Chocolates - a nice touch to finish things off, I especially like the clove (?) flavoured ones

Rating - 6.5

Atmosphere

Well, the crowd is certainly different to the Sunday lunch crowd. There were a lot more people, quite a few with American accents surprisingly, but they still couldn’t fill up the restaurant. We had a nicer spot this time, off to the side with the banquet seating, and with a better view to the kitchen. They still didn’t manage to fill the whole restaurant though for a Friday night, so I wonder why they imposed a 2 hour turnaround policy for our table?

Rating - 2

Service

Because of the 2 hour turnaround, we felt pretty rushed again. They were very keen to take away all our dishes as soon as we put our utensils down. Otherwise they were very polite, and we had the crumbs dusking ritual as well as the hand towels.

Rating - 3

C-factor

£25 for the pre-theatre menu. A lot of food, as usual, with some stand out dishes, but certainly not outstanding. Either way, we didn’t pay, so I guess cheap for me then.

Rating - 1.5

Brownie Points - 13

Info

20 Queen Street
London
W1J 5PR
Phone +44 (0) 20 7629 3561
Website