Curry Leaf East

Even after our dinner at Rasoi (see below), my wife was still craving authentic Indian cooking. In London, that's not too hard to come by, so on our way home from St. Paul's Cathedral on Saturday night we decided to stop at Curry Leaf East, which is a few blocks from our hotel.

You can't see it from the picture, but Curry Leaf East is very close to the barracks of the Honourable Artillery Company of London, which is the oldest standing military unit in the world, going back to the time of Queen Elizabeth I. This unit was the inspiration for something called the Ancient and Honourable Artillery Company of Boston, which still exists as part of the Massachusetts National Guard and which is the oldest military unit in the Americas.

The interior of CLE was very much like a dance club, with very little lighting and dark, dark purple walls (which appeared to be black in the low light) and dark furniture. The background music was house, albeit subdued house, which added to the dance club atmosphere. That said, the menu and food were pretty traditional, which was a nice change from Rasoi.

Our meal started with 2 papadom, which is like a crispy flat bread with seasonings. We then had a trio of appetizers. First, there was ajwani slamon, which was prepared in the tandoor over. It was outstanding. We also the kakori kabab, which was marinated lamb cubes with cinnamon. Also very delicious. Finally, we had the aloo papadi chat, which are crispy chats with a mint yogurt sauce. They were all very good, especially the chat with mint yogurt sauce.

For dinner I had the akhbari platter, which was an assortment of tandoori fish, lamb, and chicken. We both thought it was absolutely outstanding. My wife had the chicken jalfrazi, which was chicken with onion, green paper, and spices. It was also outstanding.

Aside from CLE being more traditional than Rasoi, the big difference between the two is that the food at CLE was much simpler and "cleaner" in its preparation. So, while Rasoi might have had six or eight flavors working in a dish, CLE probably had three. Obviously, CLE's food didn't have the subtlety of Rasoi's, but it also wasn't burdened with the complexities and conflicts.

I won't say that CLE is the equal of Rasoi, because it's not. That said, we had a very nice meal for a a pretty reasonable price (65 pounds, or just a bit north of $100 - as at Rasoi, we each had 2 beers, with no wine or desert). In fact, on a price to value basis, Curry Leaf East has to be the winner.

Here's the link to Curry Leaf East's website: http://curryleafeast.co.uk/