Mirch Masala - When You're Too Hungry To Queue

Every so often (say, once a week) I'll have an intense craving for Indian or Pakistani food. The spices, the smokiness, the grilled meat leaves me watering at the mouth and I can't think of anything else. I want those stained red fingers, the mouth smeared with ghee. At times like this I head off to Tayyabs to get my fix.

One Friday evening, myself and two friends found ourselves with this spice lust. Knowing we had a better chance of standing around outside drinking cans of lager all night than getting into Tayyabs at prime time, we tried Needoo Grill - set up by an ex manager of Tayyabs, even the menu is the same. Alas, they had a party of 20 in and wouldn't tell us either way whether we could have a table. They tried to convince us to eat and be out in half an hour; speaking from past experience, I knew this would only lead to regret. So we headed round the corner to Mirch Masala.

I've been here once before, on my 22nd birthday. The place is enormous, with a canteen-like atmosphere both upstairs and down. They treated us well though, and even turned all the lights down to sing happy birthday when my cake was brought out.

The best part of the mixed grill were the little chicken drumsticks. They were spiced lightly but were full of flavour. Sadly, lamb chops held no comparison to their neighbour's efforts. Seekh kebabs were juicy and moreish but by and large, we could have done without this dish.

We ordered a couple of main curries, and were talked into more dishes by our waiter. Along with some beautifully puffy plain rotis, the boys decided they also want a keema naan (top picture) "for the lads". It was meaty, filling and dripping with ghee. I left them to it.

Karahi keema corn was a nice change; I was surprised to see the addition of fresh corn, but my Pakistani friend I was dining with told me it's very homestyle to do so.

Karahi chilli chicken had dangerous long green chillis for my spoon to dance around. A mistaken nibble proved to be painful, though the chicken was tender and the sauce well spiced and flavoursome. We had been asked whether we wanted our dishes 'mild, medium or spicy' - given the level of spicing in here, and across the dishes, I was very glad we went for medium. My cheeks flamed.

Being the aubergine fiend that I am, it was no surprise that the karahi baigan was my favourite. Silky aubergines were deceptively spicy and not overly greasy. The roti scooped the aubergine flesh up a dream. I hogged the dish.

We left, £15 out of pocket each and stuffed to the gills. Mirch Masala is a great alternative to the more popular places - it's far quieter, you don't leave smelling of smoke, and it has far more menu options, especially for vegetarians. Just don't let the waiters talk you into extra dishes - we had more than enough, but being the gluttons we are, managed it.

Mirch Masala (other locations too)

111-113 Commercial Road

London E1 1RD

Tel: 0207 377 0155

Note - it's BYO. Hooray!

New Tayyabs

2008 passed by really quite quickly. A lot has happened for me; this blog was born, for a start. Relationships ended, new ones discoveries were made, and new friendships (some through this blog) were made. One such discovery was New Tayyabs. There are loads of food bloggers who have blogged Tayyabs, I am by far from the first, but it's generally accepted that Tayyabs is THE BEST. Really decent Pakistanni food, and cheap to boot. The queues are legendary, and it's BYO.

Recently I was having a discussion with fellow bloggers about lamb chops and who does them the best. We reckoned Tayyabs was it, and so myself, Niamh, Chris, Helen, Charles and Joel from Tipped made arrangements to go and have a blow-out. We really went for it, but there was a revelation from the evening -Tindi Masala, pumpkin curry. The picture (right) doesn't look like much, but it was delicious. Myself and Charles almost passed on it as we both said we weren't huge fans of pumpkin, but I'm really glad I gave it a go. The pumpkin pieces were juicy and bursting with flavour, with just a hint of sweetness. I've been thinking about it ever since. The chef came to our table and had a chat with us and whilst sadly he wouldn't tell me the secret to the lamb chops, he gave me a rough outline of what the pumpkin curry contained. Once I find some baby pumpkins I'm giving it a go.

Another excellent dish was the fish masala which took me by surprise. I'm not quite sure why, but I was expecting a whole fish to be brought but I was quite pleased. I'm all for eating fish as a whole beast but on a table of 8 with forks flying it would have been tricky. Anyway, the chunks were succulent and tender, with just a hint of spicing.


We did pretty well - some naan and roti, the rather unappetisingly named but extremely delicious 'dry meat' and a super spicy dhal set us up nicely and came to a mere £15 each with service. All this was washed down with another discovery made at the latter end of this year, thanks to Charles and Joel - Sierra Nevada IPA. I first tried this at The Rake, a brilliant pub in London Bridge. It was the perfect beverage for all the spice consumed.