Pakistani restaurant Lahore Karahi
1 Tooting High Street
London SW17 0SN

Lahore Karahi

We have not been to this restaurant for a couple of years, mainly due to the very poor service (especially to women) that we had experienced in the past. That was quite a while ago now though, and we decided to give it another try. I’m very happy to report that things were much improved, with smiling waiters who even showed some humour.

It is quite a large space inside the restaurant, with an upstairs area available for functions. When you enter, the grills and tandoors are to your right. This is noticable after you leave also, as our clothes always smell very strongly of curry. Better ventilation would not go astray, but at the same time, it is only after you leave that you notice it – the atmosphere inside is not choking.

As starters we took a shish kebab, and the kebab roll – just to find out what that was. It turned out to be a shish kebab in naan bread, with a little salad and onions. And as mains, we took one of their specialities, chicken tikka masala karachi – which is a very creamy and mildly spiced chicken tikka masala – and a chicken korma. To this we added two naan bread, and to drink two sweet lassi.

Sweet lassi

Kebab roll

Shish kebab

The shish kebabs (both types) were very good – nicely cooked and lightly spicy. These starters are inexpensive, and we didn’t realise they would be quite so big. Another time, we would just take one and share it.

The two curries

Curries and naan bread

Mix of tikka masala karachi & chicken korma curries

Close-up

The chicken tikka masala karachi was supremely creamy – if you like smooth creamy curries with some depth of flavour, this is nirvana. It is a naturally mildly spicy dish, but they will spice it up for you if you ask.  The chicken korma was also very good, and also very creamy (and actually, taking both of them was overkill), but between the two the tikka masala wins hands down. Really an excellent curry.

Mango kulfi

The lassi were good – not too sweet, tangy, and nicely chilled. I finished the meal with some mango kulfi, which had a rich and slightly caramelised flavour.

Cost and conclusion: for about £20 for two, the value for money is excellent. They managed to improve greatly their service so I would recommend this place if you are in the area. I still prefer overall the Al Mirage curry house two minutes walk away because the service is still better. They do suggest dishes to you, and are happy to provide any description or explanation you need, for example. Both are much better than the Mirch Masala nearby.

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.

Kolam Restaurant
60 Upper Tooting Road, Tooting
London SW17 7PB

Reviewed on Thursday 28 May 2009

Kolam Indian restaurant

We had intended to go to to Al Mirage since it has been a long time since we were there. On the way, we noticed Kolam and its promotion of £15 for two for two starters, two currys, two bread or rice, and a bottle of wine. Actually it is the bottle of wine that caught our attention since many restaurants in this area are Pakistani and alcohol free. So can we eat well for a little over the price of two fastfood menus?

Outside, the restaurant looks small but inside it is pretty long to the point to waitress has to walk to come near your table to check everything is all right. It is decently decorated. It does not look like an ordinary curry “diner” but more like a comfortable restaurant (with tablecoths, etc). For the starters the requirement from that £15 deal was to take a South India starter. The menu is quite extensive so the choice was in no way restricted. We chose a dosai masala and a dosai “special” masala. A dosai is a crepe stuffed with potato curry, onion and for the “special” masala it also had some chicken. It is a meal that can be eaten for breakfast too, apparently. They were both good, with crepes that were crispy on the outside. They were surprisingly spicy, and even hot. The two sauces were good too. The green one was served cold while the other one was warm. I do not know enough about Indian food to tell what they were exactly. It is a very filling meal. Seriously, after eating it we wondered how we were going to eat the main course! As main courses, we had to choose between currys and we decided on the spicy chicken vindaloo curry and a chilli chicken curry. We had a problem with them: they were both very spicy, which is fine as we are both into hot spices, but they were WAY too salty. The vindaloo was salty but could be handled. The chilli chicken was just too salty. It was more salty than spicy (and it was seriously spicy, so that tells you about the amount of salt). The two currys looked similar but had different taste in case you wonder about it looking at the photos below. The naans could not soak up the salt. They were on the heavy, dense kind of naan. They could be good if things were not that salty. The wine included in the menu was a bottle of Marcel Hubert dry red. It is of course a cheap wine that costs around £3 but it was not too bad. If you do a search for that wine you can find other restaurants charging about £10 for this same wine!

Spacious restaurant

Marcel Hubert red wine included in the £15 menu for two.

Dosai

Dosai masala

Not too bad for a cheap wine

Inside the dosai

The sauces served with the dosai

Naan and vindaloo curry

Chilli chicken curry

Details of the vindaloo curry

Cost and conclusion: two starters, two main courses and a bottle of wine for £15. Hard to beat it! Just too bad the currys were so incredibly salty because the surrounding was pleasant, the waitress very nice… Without that problem (which completely ruined the meal), it would be a good value for money and we can only think and hope it was a one time mistake. In the area, you have Al Mirage if you are into curry (2 minutes walk toward Tooting Broadway) and the Kings Head if you are looking for a pub (same way as for Al Mirage but it is closer).