Chai Chai

A fragrant and spiced tea blend brewed with milk and aromatic spices.

Sakonis

Sakonis

127 - 129 Ealing Road Wembley London, HA0 4BP, United Kingdom

Kebab • Indian • Seafood • Chinese


"Sakonis offers Indian vegetarian food with some Indo Chinese options and is located on Ealing Road, now for quite some time a predominantly Gujarati area of London, with its menu largely reflecting its local customer base. The restaurant is relatively large and this was our second visit in as many months. Last month we were able to walk in and dine without a reservation but this time we had a reservation for the six of us, which was a wise decision because there were queues at times that we observed. While the buffet seemed extremely popular (especially for the soft ice cream! and our server encouraged us to avail of the buffet, not unsurprisingly, we opted for a la carte a decision that we did not regret. The Sakonis website is very modern and loads quickly, offering modern and well taken photographs of some of the dishes. The mogo chips were one of the starters that we ordered and were well made, a little crispy around the edges, soft in the middle, with a spicy sauce that was right at the cusp. We also ordered the palak paneer and the paneer butter masala, both of which were excellent. Of the two I would say that the latter was a little more flavoursome a surprise since I love spinach perhaps the palak paneer could have been a little more spicy. But the star of the show was surely the bathuras that came with those particular large plates (options also included naan and puri . In fact they were so popular with our group that we ordered an additional four and although they took rather long to arrive, when we compared our fresh, hot bathuras that lingered on the buffet table getting cold, we were sure that we had made the right decision. We also ordered a hakka noodles but that was rather insipid both in look and taste although we could see plenty of diners ordering the Indo Chinese dishes. The masala tea was just alright not nearly as good as Dishoom's for example, but the inclusion of a Parle G biscuit is a cute touch. Service was great even if the late order of bathuras was rather slow. Ria was particularly helpful. We plan to visit again in the summer."

Mughli

Mughli

30 Wilmslow Rd, Manchester, Manchester, M145TQ, M14 5TQ, United Kingdom

Curry • Indian • Coffee • Casual


"I 'm sure we have all seen that stereotypical hipster dude who is seen at a coffee shop with his latest MacBook Pro while wearing clothes purchased from a thrift store, or who uses his latest iPhone to take and instagram (yes, that 's a verb now photos of himself with the homeless because his friends would think it was cool. Well, if that guy were a restaurant, he would look like Mughli. Why am I not surprised, then, that Mughli boasts of a clientele that includes the likes of Jared Leto? Let me explain myself. Mughli brands itself as something akin to a street food vendor at a railway station in South Asia. Well, if you ever happen to actually see a railway station in South Asia and the street food around it, you will find nothing in common between it and the ritzy Mughli, just like the guy flashing his electronics with the white Apple logo has nothing in common with the homeless. The pretension works for me, however. I quite enjoy experiencing comfort and luxury behind the façade of affectatious (yes, that also is an adjective now slumming. Mughli is one of the higher end South Asian restaurants on Manchester 's renowned Curry Mile (a misnomer for so many reasons, including the fact that it 's not a mile long, and that there are just as many if not more Middle Eastern restaurants and shisha lounges in this neighborhood as there are curry houses... parentheses are such a great tool for literary digressions, aren 't they? . The menu items and their descriptions are pretty standard, and generally do not appear to be too different from the offerings at other Indian Pakistani restaurants in the area. The execution of these dishes is where Mughli shines (now, do you see why my rating is 4 stars despite my snarky observations about the pretentiousness of this restaurant? . The masala chicken biryani, which is a must try according to the restaurant menu, is indeed an outstanding dish. This spicy chicken and rice dish is strewn with pomegranate jewels and fresh cloves of garlic, which enrich its flavor profile, and is finished in a pot sealed with putty dough to prevent the air and moisture from escaping. The biryani is served with gravy and yogurt raita. While the gravy is a totally redundant condiment, the raita does serve as an enhancement to the already flavorful biryani. This dish is so dissimilar to every version of biryani I 've ever had (and I grew up in South Asia that I almost don 't want to call it biryani. Whatever it needs to be christened, it is absolutely delicious! I don 't find any of the desserts here particularly exciting, but a cup of the desi chai (traditional tea is a great way to finish off a meal at Mughli."