Bangalore Express

Whatever you do, do not get the Fire cracker fiery phaal curry sauce in the «make your own curry» unless you’re a glutton for punishment because you will suffer, like the person next to me realised. I tried a bite of his. First, it tastes great, then the spice starts hitting you, and after a few seconds you start regretting ever saying «i can handle spice». To be fair, both of us can deal with spicy food, but this was some next level stuff on the Scoville scale. Good thing for Raita, because once you mix that in, it’s much more edible and yet still delicious, depending on whether you have any taste buds left. FYI — it doesn’t come with Raita and it’s extra — classic sales move.
Other than the spiciness, everything else was as expected with the service and quality of food. Got some poppadums to start. I went with the Hot South Indian chicken curry (chettinad chicken) for my main. For the next 10 minutes, I became the social outcast as I just focused on eating rather than talking. I obviously ordered naan and rice because I can never decide and want the best of both worlds. Others had ordered the make your own curry, the biryani, and some other items. Overall, everyone was happy with what they ordered. By the time we were leaving (9:30pm), service had slowed down. Our waiter was on a meal break and it took us a while to flag someone else down to get our bill.
I should note that we were a group of 8 and had reservations. I would recommend a trip here if you are in the city. With a couple of beers, shared poppadums, and a main, my bill was somewhere between £25−30.

Not your usual curry house!
I mean, all the usual suspects are on the menu, but there’s so much more to discover about Indian food at Bangalore Express! From excellent, super-​smoky tandoori dishes to lesser known South Indian, Indo-​Chinese and Indian Street Food plates, dinner will take you around the sub-​continent and beyond!
The very best way to travel with your tastebuds!

I ordered a take away dosa from restaurant. The sambar was like a potato gravy mash and tomato + coconut chutney tasted as it was made days ago and fungi has grown in it.

If you work or live around Liverpool Street/​Shoreditch, of course your first stop for a curry is Brick Lane. This is a place built on history, a destination spot for coriander goodness from Whitechapel High Street to Bethnal Green Road. It is the heart of the city’s Bangladeshi-​Sylheti community and you have an expectation of good solid curry houses. As you walk down the street the guys promise you free drinks, free papadoms etc to entice you into their establishment. It can get intense.
So, step further down Bishopsgate towards Leadenhall Market and if you blink, you miss a little side street called Corbet Court which is home to Bangalore Express. Firstly, I have issue with the name, because it gives the impression of fast mediocre food in plastic containers being farmed out for delivery on various mopeds. This is not the case, Bangalore Express is a contemporary bar and restaurant hidden away from the crowd of folk that drown the opposite Leadenhall Market pubs. It is the calm in the storm.
They have just launched a new a la carte menu and were confident enough to shout about it. Good move, as yes, they delivered a solid bit of competition for the rows of curry houses on Brick Lane. But lets back track and start with the ground floor bar. This has loads of potential to be the more upmarket spot you go to if you don’t want the busy pubs in Leadenhall Market or Crosse Keys pub next door. If they push this, it can work for them. As you move downstairs, it is dark and rich in colour with blacks and reds. You could say that this is best for Winter, but I think it is best for that feeling of escapism from the norm and samey venues nearby.
The menu is traditionally Bangladeshi at its core, but has some other influences, in particular Nepalese. This does not make for a messy mix of dishes, but a well thought out merry go round of dishes that perfectly compliment each other.
We were a table of many, so had the opportunity to taste all sorts of dishes. Dishes included lamb curry with potatoes, mushroom and peas masala, Nepalese steamed chicken dumpling, chicken rogan, okra fries, tandoori prawns, minced lamb with a buttered bap and curried duck breast, amongst others.
It was a filling experience with a rainbow of tastes and textures to tantalise your tastebuds. What an experience. This is a yes, for an exceptional curry experience in the area.
In terms of service, it started of badly with the receptionist sitting us at someone else’s table and generally appearing very confused, but once we were introduced to our gang, we were happy. Bar service great with a good selection of mocktails, restaurant service good with the Head Chef coming out and saying hi, fantastic!

Nice ambiance.
Don’t go without reservation as you’ll be asked to wait even though there are many seats available.
Services are not great. Takes ages for food.

While the ambience is average and that of a functional Indian restaurant, loved the food and service here. I ordered some kind of dinner set that came with Chicken/​Rogan, daal/​spinach, naan and rice/​mushrooms (I know, lots of food!). Delicious, well prepared and hit the spot. The wait staff and servers (Rekha) were very helpful and efficient. If you’re in the area and crave Indian, this is your go-​to spot.

Awesome place. Great food cooked very well at a reasonable price for the city.
I will be going back!
Highly recommended.

I was accompanying my husband on a business trip to London and that is when we got to try out this place. Bangalore express was recommended to us by on of his colleagues as we were looking for good indian restaurant around. Since it was conveniently located near our hotel, we thought about giving it a try. First up, food is really good here. The first time we went, we had the veg harabhara kebabs and the south indian vegetarian thali, i must say it was really good. Second time around we had the chicken biryani, which was no where near to what the actual biryani tastes like but it wasn’t bad either. Dosa is very good here and so is the Indo-​chinese veg platter. Trust me on this i am a south indian and i know my dosas, vadas and sambhar, they are really good here in bangalore express. Since we didn’t like the biryani much we never tried any non veg dishes. I would have given 4stars or maybe more but the service is very very very poor. We had to wait around 15−20mins for someone to serve water and another 10 mins for someone to take the order. In-​spite of the bad service we went there twice, but all the time it was same poor service. My advice, if you can bare with the poor service do try the south indian thali and dosa out here.

Lovely place, suitable for business or personal lunches or even dinner. They offer some interesting dishes on their menu and most of them come fast when ordered. Also, great ambiance and clean restrooms await you there.

The food is overall pretty good. The lamb spinach curry main is my favourite and is actually very good. Prices are also okay.
The reason why this restaurant gets only 2 stars is because of the poor service. Upon entering we were seated downstairs. In the room next to us they were having a party event. It was very noisy and we had to ask to move several times before they actually did.
The service was inattentive at best. The food took quite a while to turn up. When it finally came it became apparent the waitress hadn’t written down my order incorrectly, despite me being very lucid with her.
So had to wait another 10 minutes before I finally got my food. I then had to order more rice because my rice had by now gone cold. No apologies. Very poor service — just from their general demeanour and serving skills. Staff need to be trained!

Meh. I’ve had better. The service was good, but the food was bland. I got a lamb jalfrezi, it wasn’t hot and the lamb was over cooked. The spinach and tofu tasted dry and the squid started was chewy.
Glad this was on a tastecard otherwise I would have dropped the rating even more. It’s not worth it at full price. With so many other Indian options around I suggest you give this one a miss.

With all the indian restaurants in London, it’s important to pick the right one. They can range from freaking-​spectacular-​better-​than-​you-​can-​find-​in-​india to why-​did-​I-​waste-​my-​time-​here. This rating may seem harsh but what I’m really saying is «Meh, I’ve experienced better». The sauces were not very flavorful. The chicken wasn’t as tender as it could have been, the service was not very good. We were sat and then were immediately forgotten for the next 20 minutes. Which during lunch time is precious time.
I ordered the chicken breast tikka masala plate with pilau rie and bombay potato salad. I enjoyed the pickled broccoli on the side, but other than that, I really wasn’t impressed. If you’re searching for a once in a lifetime curry experience, this isn’t it and I know for a fact that you can get much better nearby.

Overall, good atmosphere and welcome.
The food is good, and, for a change, there is a large variety of curries (from Afghan to Burmese to East African…), which is great !!!
The one thing that put us off (and that lowers the grade I’m giving now), is the service: one person in our party found some plastic in the salad.
The waitress took it away, and seemed shocked, but didn’t apologise.
Then he asked for a coke, which never came…
At the end, the bill showed the coke which never came, and, even with a complimentary dessert, it was hard for us to call it a good dinner…
Let’s assume it was a on-​off error, and we’ll go back to try some other delicious worldwide curries…

We came here upon recommendation as I was seeking some East or Southern Indian food that didn’t turn into Bangladeshi Indian food. Can you tell I am an Indian food snob? Yes I like my curries.
Tucked in an ally, this place has a romantic modern feel to it. Service was amazing. I started with the poppadoms and chutneys. I can’t tell you which chutney I liked best so I will probably have to go back to try them again!
I ordered the vegetarian thali with Malai Kofta. Delicious and massive and everything I wanted in a southern Indian dish, plus leftovers for the next day.

I was invited by Qype to come to an Indian food’n’wine tasting event — it took us a while to find the restaurant, hidden as it was inside a building off a side-​street, but at least that gave it a rarified feel of exclusivity, taste and style. A feeling reinforced by the modest but stylish decorations.
We were then treated to a passionate talk about Indian food from one of the owners, Charles, and in particular how he wanted to match it up with some fine wines as provided by Louise from Liberty Wines.
Thus instead of the Indian food tasting I was expecting, we were drinking samples of fine wine that had been specially selected to compliment the bits of Indian food that were coming.
Of the foods, dark mutterings were made about the duck roll, but the tiger prawn curry, and salmon got a definitive thumbs up. While the lamb tikka was deceptively mild, but then built into a slow burn. Don’t add extra spice to this one.
As for the wines, I was more of a white wine drinker so particularly enjoyed the Le Petit Jaboulet, and the Pieropan, with the Loimer giving a sharper kick.
Some lucky attendees stayed after the tasting for a full Indian meal — I shall have to come back some day and do that myself.

This newly-​opened branch of Bangalore Express is brilliant. I’d been to the Waterloo branch over a year ago and had a wonderful meal. This time was no different.
I was fortunate enough to be one of the Qypers invited to participate in an Indian tapas and wine pairing hosted by Charles, one of the owners, and Louise from Liberty Wines. It was clear from their explanations that both of them were incredibly enthusiastic about the subject and had taken great care when it came to pairing the wines with the dishes on offer. And they were certainly generous too — 16 wines in total with eight rounds of food, not including the pre-​dinner glass of bubbly!
I very much enjoyed the food that was served to us, though I’m not sure I really liked the salmon. It was nice, but just didn’t sit with my idea of Indian cuisine. I am generally open-​minded, but I tend to like my salmon clean (i.e. without any sauce, unless it’s teriyaki!). That aside, the wines went surprisingly well with the food. I’m sure I wasn’t alone in thinking that Indian food and wine just aren’t meant to mix, but that night sure proved me wrong.
That being said, I’d just like to point out that if your stomach’s a little sensitive to spicy food, it’s generally not a great idea to aggravate that with alcohol, whether it’s wine, beer or anything in between. Trust me on this one. You don’t really want to find out the hard way.
I had to make an early exit from this night as the enthusiasm of Charles, Louise, and indeed everyone in attendance meant that dinner went on for longer than I’d anticipated. By the time I left at close to 10 pm, I think there were still six more wines to go!
Just in reply to simondoggett’s note: I’ve had a full curry at the Waterloo branch, and I didn’t have any issues with being able to go nuts with my choices. Service at both of the BE branches I’ve been to has been really friendly, so I’m pretty sure if I’m ever tempted to go crazy with random choices, I’ll probably ask the waiter what he/​she thinks first!

What is the matrix?
First of all, full respect to Bangalore Express for doing something a bit different. The décor, attention to detail, service and concept have all been slavishly worked on, and you can see the results when you get into the place.
It’s beautiful. I know the Waterloo branch has been heaped with praise for its interior design, and the City branch is different but still exquisitely finished.
I also quite like the concept of indian tapas. It works pretty well, especially as they’re pushing the concept of wine over the typically overpriced bottle of Kingfisher.
Taking that in mind, I do have one issue, and that is with The Matrix. The Matrix is the way you order curry at Bangalore Express. It’s a big table on the menu (a bit like where you can choose a meat, spice, rice and accompaniment — resulting in hundreds of different variations. Purists, I’m sure, are not keen on this idea.
Now, I didn’t end up having a full curry at BE, so can’t pass judgement on the effectiveness of the Matrix as a menu gimmick. Conceptually, I’m not sure I agree with it. I’m no expert in Indian cuisine whatsoever, so the prospect of allowing me to choose what I want is a non-​starter. The chef is the expert, I’d rather let him choose before I go nuts with a Duck Dhansak, just because I can.
That said, go for the wine, the tapas, the ambiance and the warm welcome. There aren’t many little nooks in the city as friendly as this one.

The evening at Bangalore Express was well organized and headed by great hosts including the owner Charles Hill.
The restaurant is tucked away off the main street and has a smart modern look to it.
After we arrived a starter was brought out and we had a teasing taste of what was to come. It was fresh and flavorful. I was excited to get seated and taste some more.
Overall I found the food to be excellent. I enjoyed each mouthful to the fullest, again just full of wonderful distinctive flavors. Most of the dishes we had were on the milder side but it was a good reminder that there is more to Indian than really hot and spicy dishes. As well the sauce was kept to a minimum another reminder that Indian is about more than a dish of sauce needing rice to sop up and give it some substance.
I’m not a wine drinker, but I enjoyed the wine tasting hosted by Louise from Liberty wine and it was proven that wine does go with Indian if chosen well.
The prices on the menu give good value for money and I look forward to returning again to Bangalore Express.

Calzone, haloumi, plantain, goat? All in the same place? Experience the inventive and inspired dishes at Bangalore Express and you’ll never be satisfied with a vindaloo and a lager again.
I used to work in an Indian restaurant and have eaten at many, trust me… this is no ordinary curry house.
It is such a rarity to meet the proprietor of a restaurant who is so charming and shows such a passion for what he serves his guests. It was clear from hearing Charles Hill speak that his restaurants are a labour of love, not just an effort to fill seats. This passion is conveyed in the wildly varied and, in my opinion, brave menu. The flavours may not have been robust enough for some of my companions, but they suited my spice-​shy palate perfectly.
As a vegetarian I won’t be trying the Caribbean goat, but the salmon and tiger prawns were so amazing that one, two, were nowhere near enough. I cannot wait to go back and be unleashed on a full menu. And that chocolate and pistachio fondant on the dessert menu. I won’t be sharing.
It was fantastic to hear Louise from Liberty Wines discussing how each wine was chosen to match the food. I wish I could say that I learnt a lot, but too many tastings left me well tipsy. Much to the amusement of the lovely Qypers sitting next to me.

My main regret from last night at Bangalore Express is not staying on to indulge in a full meal, as some of the other guests did which was imminently sensible and probably a missed opportunity.
Charles Hill’s philosophy is that it’s important to select a comprehensive wine list that’s varied enough to give customers a wide choice, but all of the selections should be robust enough to suit Indian food — and we sampled quite a few of those wines from their list over the course of a really enjoyable evening. Most of us do assume that Indian food = beer so this was really quite an education.
The highlights for me were the Pieropan Soave which surprised most of us, and a Donnafugata Sherazade which were both deliciously drinkable, as well as complementing the Indian tapas perfectly: Golden fried tiger prawns with chilli jam, lamb meat balls in tempered mint yoghurt and everyone’s favourite, tandoori salmon with dill.
It feels only fair to say we’ll have to go back and take the opportunity to sample more of the menu — purely to give a full review, of course…