Curry house Mirch Masala
213 Upper Tooting Road
London SW17 7TG

Mirch Masala

Inside

In the past we have been several times to Mirch Masala and found their butter chicken to be very good, but we have not been for about 2 years – and in the meantime discovered Al Mirage next door. Have we been right to have switched to Al Mirage? To be short, yes. Our experience this time did not start well. When we received our cuttlery, they were covered by some curry/grease on one end. How it escaped to the waiter is a wonder. Actually not really since we had a dozy waiter. He was quite fun to watch but definitely on another planet.

It was not busy at the time we went, so we were a bit disappointed to be left sitting so long. We ordered a Karahi butter chicken (£7), a Karahi Lamb Tikka Masala (£7) and a fried chilli/onion mix (£1) as an accompaniment. As drinks we had a sweet lassi and a mango lassi. Unfortunately they were not cold, being even on the warm side. At Mirch Masala they provide some some poppadoms and an onion/cucumber salad when you get the table.

The butter chicken dish was fine – good flavours, and reasonably tender bits of chicken. It did not live up to our memories from previous visits though, seeming distinctly ordinary. The lamb tikka masala wasn’t good. Here the food seemed excessively salty and – unusually for a curry – the meat was quite tough and chewy. Certainly not the tender, well marinated chunks of lamb one usually gets in a curry house. The naan bread was also disappointing, quite dry and stiff, as though it had sat for 15 minutes before being brought to us. The fried chilli accompaniment was incredibly hot. Quite possibly the hottest chilli I had in my life. We managed to eat only one of them and we felt unwell the whole day with a burnt feeling in the stomach.

Sweet lassi and mango lassi

Karahi Lamb Tikka Masala

Karahi butter chicken

Fried chilli/onion mix

Overview of the table

The two currys in the plate

See the chilli!

Serious weapon!

Not great naan

Cost and conclusion: it was £18.30 in all. The food was alright but not great. At £7 per curry it is overpriced considering its average quality and the canteen like decor. The good butter curry lost its buttery flavour and became greasy. We were surprised the prices went up that way because they stayed stable at Al Mirage next door (about £1 to £2 less per curry). If you are looking for a curry restaurant in Tooting, Al Mirage is a better choice with cheaper and much better food.

The Devonshire
39 Balham High Road London, Balham
London SW12 9AN

Stylish design

Cosy interior design

The beer garden

The Devonshire is one of a small groups of ‘upmarket’ pubs that seem to cater for a wide range of tastes. There is a bar and bar menu for those who want something simple, a more formal dining room and restaurant menu for those who want something a bit more formal, and a barbecue menu for those happy to eat outside in the beer garden.

It was a nice warm sunny day when we went there for lunch, so we chose the barbecue menu out in the beer garden.

We took a Devonshire burger served with salad & fries (£9.50), and a rump steak served with salad & fries (£13.95). To wash that down, we had a pint of Peroni and a bottle of Bulmers Pear cider (just over £8 for the drinks).

The burger was reasonably good – it had a nice fresh bun and a slightly smokey barbecue flavour, and nicely cooked without becoming dry. The salad and fries were pretty average though, and most of those were abandoned on my plate. For £9.50 this burger was certainly on the small side though – about half the size of the kiwiburger you can get at Gourmet Burger Kitchen for £2 less.

For £13.95, I think we could fairly have expected a much larger piece of meat that the 6-7oz bit of rump that arrived on my plate. It was not a good quality piece of meat either, and had a large chunk of grisly fat in the middle that had to be abandoned (you can see it in the photos below). Whilst it was apparently barbecued, it did not have the flavour of barbecued meat and it came with no sauce or other garnish – making this a pretty bland meal. I had to resort to tomato ketchup and mayonnaise. The fries were just OK – I ate them all because I was hungry.

My experiement with Bulmers pear cider will not be repeated. I found it a bit too watery in the flavour for my liking – a bit like a watered down soft drink. It may be to others’ taste, but not mine and not with a meal. On the plus side, both it and the Peroni (fine) were served properly cold.

Bulmers pear cider and Peroni beer

Devonshire burger

Rump steak

Details of the rump steak

Overview of the two meals

Grisly fat

Cost and conclusion: The bill came to £23.45 (plus £8 for the drinks). The quality of food was very mixed, and very overpriced. The burger is substantially more expensive than the much larger and better burgers you can get at Gourmet Burger Kitchen. The steak here was low quality – and more expensive than the good quality bavette you can get at Bellevue Rendez-vous. It is a pity because this pub has a very nice atmosphere and décor, but it certainly does not have food of a quality to match nearby restaurants.