Indian Food

My mom will be happy to know that I've been attempting to cook my own Indian food (the operative word is attempting). The supermarkets here have Indian sauces that you can add to your vegetables, which I've never seen in the States. If you cook potatoes or green beans (my vegetables of choice) and add the Indian sauce, it makes for a halfway decent meal.

However, whenever you mention Indian food in London, Brick Lane comes to mind. I went about a month ago to a restaurant whose name I can't remember (all the restaurants seem interchangeable anyway). Despite the reputation, the food paled relative to the experience.

When you walk down Brick Lane (off the Aldgate East station), the Indian restaurants are right next to each other, with nearly no break in between. All of them have a promoter (as if they're a club) standing outside who will flag your group down and proceed to negotiate on prices listed on the menu outside. We had a group of eight guys so on principle alone, we decided not to eat at the first two restaurants to which we were solicited.

By our third restaurant, we'd negotiated a 10 pound meal covering a starter, an entree, rice or naan, and three pints of beer. After five minutes of negotiations, we stepped into the empty restaurant. For a Thursday, we were surprised by how deserted Brick Lane seemed (which contributed to the aggressive negotiations with the promoters). However, our waiter started pouring small glasses, not pints, of beers. Someone in my group confronted him, and, for the first time in my life, we stood up from our chairs and walked out before ordering our meals. Obviously, the waiter and owner weren't happy so they sent a trail of profanities sailing our way as we left the restaurant. What a start to the night!

The promoter across the street saw this drama occurring so he offered to give us anything that the last promoter hadn't. Being the spiteful customers we were, with the upper hand, we went inside so that the promoter of the last restaurant could clearly see us through the window. The rest of the night proceeded normally, with us settling on a 10 pound meal covering two starters, an entree, rice or naan, and two pints of beer. The Indian food was good but not excellent.

However, for excellent Indian food, go to Tayyabs (I think it's the same as New Tayyabs if you search online) in Whitechapel, which is the next stop over from Aldgate East. Supposedly Whitechapel has the quality Indian food that Brick Lane used to have ten years ago. Going with Panton's uncle and his friends last week, this place was packed on a Tuesday night. We even had to get a reservation to avoid the line outside.

There's no set menu and no alcohol. Most entrees are five pounds with the naan costing an additional one or two pounds. Most people bring their own beers. I can't even put into words the glory of that first bite. Let me just say that all of us left the restaurant barely able to walk because of how much we'd eaten even though we wished we could've eaten more. I had chana and mixed vegetables for my entrees, but the others said their meat entrees were excellent as well. So far, Tayyabs has been my favorite meal in London, even if Panton's uncle hadn't paid for it.

So the point of this post is to point you to Whitechapel, especially Tayyabs, over Brick Lane for good Indian food. Obviously, the experience of Brick Lane, of walking out of a restaurant to a trail of profanities, of negotiating prices is a story to tell. Once you've done that, head over to Whitechapel.