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Indian Zing
from 5 reviews
Indian Zing
236 Kings Street
Hammersmith
London
W6 0RF
tel.: 02087485959
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Indian Zing clearly has ambitions to go beyond the curry house norms that abound in King Street, which can be thought of as the Brick Lane of west London. Chef Manoj Vasaijar has been head chef at up-market Indian Chutney Mary, and this background shows in the menu. In addition to some familiar standards are dishes such as monkfish tikka and duck chettinad. The décor is simple but pleasant, with various Indian prints adorning the white walls, and an ornamental wooden door just inside the entrance.
The wine list is a long way from what one might expect in a normal tandoori joint: choices include Yalumba Riseling Y Series 2008 at £22.50 (compared to a retail price of around £7), Valdemar Gran reserve 2000 at £44 for a wine that will set you back £18 in the shops, and even Dom Perignon 2000 at £140 compared to a retail price of about £88. The meal started well with crisp popadoms and very good chutneys that appear to be made from scratch, a coriander chutney with good flavour and a very good mango chutney, much better than the norm (3/10).
My starter of “scallop Lonche” with new potatoes (£8.50) had a lively masala pickle which had acted as a marinade to the scallops, served with fresh coriander. The scallops were cooked just a little too long, but were still very pleasant (2/10). Pea and potato tikki was also nicely made, the vegetable patti having good texture, the spicing nicely judged with a little tamarind sweetness (2/10). Then the main courses arrived.
Prawn biriani (listed at £17.50) had decent rice but utterly awful prawns, which had been cooked so long they were the consistency of cotton wool (0/10). My chicken jalfrezi (£8.50) had a decent if one-dimensional sauce, but the chicken itself was also woefully overcooked, the meat itself really poor (0/10). A dish of bhindi turned out to be stone cold; I don’t mean lukewarm, I mean literally cold, and the one piece of okra that I tasted before I sent the dish back was overcooked and slimy (0/10). Amongst this culinary carnage there was a very decent yellow dhal (2/10) and adequate if slightly harder than ideal naan bread (at least 1/10). Service was friendly but inept: initially our starters were delivered to a different table, then confidently put in front of us the wrong way around. Even pouring a beer, hardly the trickiest of tasks, proved beyond not one but two of the waiters.
This was a wildly erratic meal, and to be fair the chef clearly acknowledged this when he came out later having tried the various dishes we had returned. Even allowing for a bad night, there are two concerns: with some dishes not charged for, including the dismal prawns, the bill still came to £55 with just three beers and some water between us. Moreover, this was in fact the third meal I have had at this restaurant. The first one was quite capable, the second one rather like tonight, with some really inexcusable dishes mixed in with some competent ones. It was on the basis of this second meal that I decided to give it a lengthy break before returning, only to have another wildly erratic dinner tonight. If you were lucky it would be possible to have a very good meal here, and the good starters tonight make the train-wreck main courses all the more frustrating. However to deliver such serious inconsistency not just once but on two successive visits is really quite worrying. Writing an interesting menu is one thing: cooking it is quite another.
The wine list is a long way from what one might expect in a normal tandoori joint: choices include Yalumba Riseling Y Series 2008 at £22.50 (compared to a retail price of around £7), Valdemar Gran reserve 2000 at £44 for a wine that will set you back £18 in the shops, and even Dom Perignon 2000 at £140 compared to a retail price of about £88. The meal started well with crisp popadoms and very good chutneys that appear to be made from scratch, a coriander chutney with good flavour and a very good mango chutney, much better than the norm (3/10).
My starter of “scallop Lonche” with new potatoes (£8.50) had a lively masala pickle which had acted as a marinade to the scallops, served with fresh coriander. The scallops were cooked just a little too long, but were still very pleasant (2/10). Pea and potato tikki was also nicely made, the vegetable patti having good texture, the spicing nicely judged with a little tamarind sweetness (2/10). Then the main courses arrived.
Prawn biriani (listed at £17.50) had decent rice but utterly awful prawns, which had been cooked so long they were the consistency of cotton wool (0/10). My chicken jalfrezi (£8.50) had a decent if one-dimensional sauce, but the chicken itself was also woefully overcooked, the meat itself really poor (0/10). A dish of bhindi turned out to be stone cold; I don’t mean lukewarm, I mean literally cold, and the one piece of okra that I tasted before I sent the dish back was overcooked and slimy (0/10). Amongst this culinary carnage there was a very decent yellow dhal (2/10) and adequate if slightly harder than ideal naan bread (at least 1/10). Service was friendly but inept: initially our starters were delivered to a different table, then confidently put in front of us the wrong way around. Even pouring a beer, hardly the trickiest of tasks, proved beyond not one but two of the waiters.
This was a wildly erratic meal, and to be fair the chef clearly acknowledged this when he came out later having tried the various dishes we had returned. Even allowing for a bad night, there are two concerns: with some dishes not charged for, including the dismal prawns, the bill still came to £55 with just three beers and some water between us. Moreover, this was in fact the third meal I have had at this restaurant. The first one was quite capable, the second one rather like tonight, with some really inexcusable dishes mixed in with some competent ones. It was on the basis of this second meal that I decided to give it a lengthy break before returning, only to have another wildly erratic dinner tonight. If you were lucky it would be possible to have a very good meal here, and the good starters tonight make the train-wreck main courses all the more frustrating. However to deliver such serious inconsistency not just once but on two successive visits is really quite worrying. Writing an interesting menu is one thing: cooking it is quite another.
A week late in the writing, but I have been out of internet range for most of the last seven days, breaking the back of writing EATING FOR BRITAIN.
Indian Zing was just about empty when I arrived with my friend Paul not long after we had left the Great British Beer Festival. It may have been the early hour, a little past 6.30pm. It may have been the weather, appalling as rain bucketed down in thick sheets drenching us as we ran from the tube station. It may have been its location on King St, more known for its standard curry houses than Indian fine dining, but this restaurant has not yet received the recognition it deserves.
A shame, for even though both Paul and I were coming down from the high of too many pints of mild at the festival, the meal at Indian Zing goes down as one of the best of its kind I have experienced in London for a some time.
It is little surprise as Chef/Owner Manoj Vasaikar has an impressive C.V including Chutney Mary, Veeraswamy and the Oberoi Hotel in his hometown of Mumbai. The menu too speaks to his accomplished and varied background with dishes represented from all over India including a range again from his home state of Maharastra.
We began with a small amuse of chicken malai tikka, which had been marinated with curd cheese and green peppercorns and then cooked in the tandoor until the outside was crisp and the inside meltingly soft. I would be hard pressed to name a better version I have tried in London.
We shared two starters, a “Prawn and Aubergine Kharphatla” where the main ingredients had been marinated in a mildly spiced combination of caramelised onions, tomatoes and pickling spices and “Bhori Paneer Samosa, with Black Eyed Peas” Both again were excellent with the prawns retaining a bite and not being overpowered by the subtle sauce and the crisp, delicate skin of the samosa cracking to reveal its creamy insides.
We moved on to two main courses that have been much debased in curry houses all over the country. The restaurant was coming towards the end of a month long “Biryani Festival” and a separate menu listed seven different variations from which I chose a “Kachi Pakki Biryani” made in the Hyderabad style where raw meat is cooked in a sealed pot with the rice and spices. Alongside this we ordered a classic dish of the Parsee community, a “Dhansak” where more lamb is cooked, this time with spices and lentils.
The biryani was served with a Mirchi Ka Salan, the spicy gravy made with peanuts, tamarind, ginger, garlic and dill. It was, again, as good as I have tried in London with the meat retaining a bite and the spices permeating through the rice as it slow cooks in the sealed pot. The fact I wiped the dish of gravy clean with my fingers tells you all you need to know.
The Dhansak too showed all the signs of proper, unhurried cooking and with only one other couple in the dining room, Mr Vasaikar came out to have a quick chat with us saying that this was one of his own favourite dishes. He spoke with genuine enthusiasm about his menu and that passion and the attention to detail came though in his cooking, with none of the tell tale signs of pre-made sauces that blight so many Indian restaurants.
By now, the combination of beer, pork scratchings, more beer and our meal had taken its toll and we finished our meal with a glass each of juice from the Kokum, a fruit I had tried when in Goa and Mumbai, well known for its restorative properties. With this we chewed in a couple of Paan, a traditional palate cleanser and breathe freshener, made with areca nut wrapped in betel leaf and here also with a little candied fruit.
A suitable way to end an excellent meal and to bring our bill up to £78 (er, did I mention we fitted in a bottle of wine too?) Although certainly not on the cheap side of things it definitely represents good value for a meal of real merit from a chef who patently knows what he is doing.
It’s a long old way from Shoreditch to Hammersmith, but I suspect it wont be too long before I make a return visit to Indian Zing even if there is not the added bonus of half a dozen pints of mild in the first place.
Indian Zing was just about empty when I arrived with my friend Paul not long after we had left the Great British Beer Festival. It may have been the early hour, a little past 6.30pm. It may have been the weather, appalling as rain bucketed down in thick sheets drenching us as we ran from the tube station. It may have been its location on King St, more known for its standard curry houses than Indian fine dining, but this restaurant has not yet received the recognition it deserves.
A shame, for even though both Paul and I were coming down from the high of too many pints of mild at the festival, the meal at Indian Zing goes down as one of the best of its kind I have experienced in London for a some time.
It is little surprise as Chef/Owner Manoj Vasaikar has an impressive C.V including Chutney Mary, Veeraswamy and the Oberoi Hotel in his hometown of Mumbai. The menu too speaks to his accomplished and varied background with dishes represented from all over India including a range again from his home state of Maharastra.
We began with a small amuse of chicken malai tikka, which had been marinated with curd cheese and green peppercorns and then cooked in the tandoor until the outside was crisp and the inside meltingly soft. I would be hard pressed to name a better version I have tried in London.
We shared two starters, a “Prawn and Aubergine Kharphatla” where the main ingredients had been marinated in a mildly spiced combination of caramelised onions, tomatoes and pickling spices and “Bhori Paneer Samosa, with Black Eyed Peas” Both again were excellent with the prawns retaining a bite and not being overpowered by the subtle sauce and the crisp, delicate skin of the samosa cracking to reveal its creamy insides.
We moved on to two main courses that have been much debased in curry houses all over the country. The restaurant was coming towards the end of a month long “Biryani Festival” and a separate menu listed seven different variations from which I chose a “Kachi Pakki Biryani” made in the Hyderabad style where raw meat is cooked in a sealed pot with the rice and spices. Alongside this we ordered a classic dish of the Parsee community, a “Dhansak” where more lamb is cooked, this time with spices and lentils.
The biryani was served with a Mirchi Ka Salan, the spicy gravy made with peanuts, tamarind, ginger, garlic and dill. It was, again, as good as I have tried in London with the meat retaining a bite and the spices permeating through the rice as it slow cooks in the sealed pot. The fact I wiped the dish of gravy clean with my fingers tells you all you need to know.
The Dhansak too showed all the signs of proper, unhurried cooking and with only one other couple in the dining room, Mr Vasaikar came out to have a quick chat with us saying that this was one of his own favourite dishes. He spoke with genuine enthusiasm about his menu and that passion and the attention to detail came though in his cooking, with none of the tell tale signs of pre-made sauces that blight so many Indian restaurants.
By now, the combination of beer, pork scratchings, more beer and our meal had taken its toll and we finished our meal with a glass each of juice from the Kokum, a fruit I had tried when in Goa and Mumbai, well known for its restorative properties. With this we chewed in a couple of Paan, a traditional palate cleanser and breathe freshener, made with areca nut wrapped in betel leaf and here also with a little candied fruit.
A suitable way to end an excellent meal and to bring our bill up to £78 (er, did I mention we fitted in a bottle of wine too?) Although certainly not on the cheap side of things it definitely represents good value for a meal of real merit from a chef who patently knows what he is doing.
It’s a long old way from Shoreditch to Hammersmith, but I suspect it wont be too long before I make a return visit to Indian Zing even if there is not the added bonus of half a dozen pints of mild in the first place.
i would thank for this website and the reviewers for giving me such a good neighbourhood restaurant. after seeing the website and being their it was truly different experience of indian food and that completely match any of the top restaurant with different cusines also.
Been to Zing with 4 friends , we know indian food well and been to most of the big names in indian restaurant . i feel this is probably the best indian restaurant in london. Its food is neat , clean and authentic with value for money.
This is one of the finest Indian resturants in London and well worth a visit.
In 1908 the Olympic Games came to London for the first time, and more importantly to Shepherds Bush, where the great White City was being built for the Franco British Exhibition.
Offer: Buy 2 sausages get 1 free (mention MyVillage)
Where: Maida Hill Market, Fridays and Saturdays.
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