Zaika and Tamarind

[marlena spieler]

ps: what i meant about the lightly smoked nature of the lamb, as if it had just bopped through a parisian cafe, i mean, it could have just smoked a couple of galouise', instead..... (sure my spelling is off there)

[MobyP]

smoked lamb ... as if it had just bopped smartly through a parisian cafe before being marinated and roasted and arriving on my plate.

Marvellous.

Who was it that described the perfect martini as: "drinking an ice cold galss of gin, while staring at a picture of the man who invented vermouth?"

[sourcherries]

I've never been to Tamarind. I've been to Zaika once one year ago when I lived literally around the corner. It was a great meal!!! My boyfriend (also a foodie) and I really had a great time and dinner there. We loved the truffle naan and the cocktails as well.

Last November, for my birthday, we tried Cinnamon Club. I appreciated the interior and how it was quiet, but the place and food definitely lacks flavor and spice comapred to Zaika. The interior at Zaika is rich and creates a mood for the food. And the food delivers. Cinnamon Club felt so conservative, almost as if it was not giving the customers enough credit for appreciating haute Indian cuisine. The food lacked punch and excitement. We both agreed that we were disappointed, comparing CC to Zaika.

I have to recommend, for an informal place, a great Indian restaurant is Punjab in Covent Garden. The chicken madras is so good and blows other informal Indian restaurants away! When i get take away at home, I get so disappointed b/c it's not Punjab. Has anyone else been there?

[MobyP]

Went here last night, very excited as my first time, and had a thoroughly mediocre experience.

The room is old style victorian - wood panneling and beautiful stone work - superimposed with entirely meaningless glass screens. In fact, almost every diversion from the original room was in poor taste, other than some beautiful statues of Ganesh and others.

The menu looks lovely - plenty of imaginative ideas there - but the execution was consistently poor to very poor. Almost everything was overcooked.

To start we had an amuse of pulses in a yoghurty emulsion - fair, but none of the excitement you should feel with an amuse.

To follow: the prawn platter and Zaika platter. I don't remember everything on these. One of the prawns was batterred and fried - but the batter was 'doughy,' with an unpleasant mouth feel. Then a 'risotto' with shrimp - the rice was pretty dry (I don't know why they thought to call it 'risotto'), the small shrimp crunchy with some kind of batter (again). Then an enormous prawn, butterflied, and sauteed or roasted with spices, with coconut. This was okay, but overcooked (a theme of the evening). On the Zaika platter, some sepia-coated chicken was pretty mild. A duck kebab was almost entirely tasteless. Then a nice piece of salmon with yoghurt and dill - probably the best of the lot.

For mains, I had the duck breast with wild mushroom naan, black lentils, mash. This was a nicely designed dish, but the duck was completely over-cooked. I asked for med-rare, and they brought it med-well. The other tastes on the plate were pretty good, otherwise. Including truffle oil, which worked surprisingly well against all of those spices.

Kate had the butter chicken, which came with a tomato chutney ice-cream. The latter tasted very nice, btw. The chicken was cooked well enough, but the sauce was rather empty and flacid and not heading in any particular direction. A great butter chicken is a luxurious dish when done well. This was just a bit of menu filling.

Finally a leg of lamb biryani, cooked in a pot with a pastry crust. This tasted good, but again was entirely over-cooked. All of the elements were bone dry and piping hot.

We declined the desert menu - which looked pretty interesting - we were too stuffed.

The total, with three beers, one glass of wine, and a bottle of water came to £123. That's £40 a head without desert - too much for that level of cooking.

[Suzi Edwards]

jack had the coconut prawn thing when we went a couple of months ago and he loved it. still talks about it now in fact. i wonder if there was someone different in the kitchen? the fact that EVERYTHING was overcooked suggests a different hand at the tiller to me...

[Andy Lynes]

Chef Vaneet Bhatia has left Zaika and is setting up his own restaurant on the site of what was Richard Corrigan's English Garden.

[Bapi]

Rasoi Vineet Bhatia, 10 Lincoln Street, London SW3 2TS, tel: 020 7225 1881

[Scott]

went to Zaika, almost 2 years ago exactly.

Food was ok, but went with the wine matched menu (when will I ever learn to take myown advice???). Mediocre matching, but what was worse they didn't serve them together. the wine pours came out in all sorts of orders, and never actually with the dishes.

[howardlong]

Went here last night, very excited as my first time, and had a thoroughly mediocre experience.

Unfortunate - although it's staggering distance from home, I've not been for about six months. Usually I've found it to be pretty good, although the tables can be too close together, and sadly it's a breeding ground for cell phone users.

Last time I was in, I sat next to a couple who both spent the first three quarters of an hour of their meal taking a multitude of calls on their cell phones making small talk, all of which I could hear. I asked if they'd mind turning their ringers to vibrate, to which I was told that they weren't expecting any calls. So why the h*ll don't you switch them off, I thought! Hardly a particularly nice dining experience if you spend a large proportion of it on the phone.

On the half dozen occasions I've been in, I've only ever done the big tasting menu (7 or 8 courses) at £45 with wine at £25. Both food- and wine-wise I've found it good value. I hope your experience only a glitch.

Cheers, Howard

[alexisg]

I had a great meal at Zaika a few years back and I understand that the head chef has moved on to his own place.

I'll be in London for a very short period of time in May, and wanted to see if Zaika was still up to par, or if there was a better recommendation for upscale Indian. I really enjoyed my meal there and would love to go back, but would hate to have it tainted by a sub-par experience.

My only free evening right now is a Sunday, and I'm having a difficult time finding an alternate for Zaika just in case.

Can anyone out there help? I'd love to get your opinions.

[horton]

Head chef Sanjay Dwivedi moved there about three weeks ago from Deya. I ate at Deya a few days before heleft and it was absolutely fantastic especially a tandoori seared tuna dish. Apparently he has moved back to Zaika to reclaim the star. From my experience of Sanjay's food and general enthusiasm I think Zaika will be well worth a visit.

The chef you are talking about though is Vineet Bhatia who has opened his own place (Rasoi VB) in Chelsea. Sure that if you serach this forum you will get some views on him/it.