"As luck would have it, I found myself in London for the second time inside three weeks with a group of friends, enjoying a day out. We have a few beers, take-in some sights and then finish-up on or very near Brick Lane. On me and a mate visited the Reema and we were both suitably impressed, so it was only fair that we made a return visit to see if the level of service and food was being maintained. This time there were five of us on what seemed like a fairly busy Friday evening in The Lane', August As with my previous trip, the restaurant was empty on our arrival and we were warmly greeted and shown to our table. Poppadums were ordered, as were various soft drinks coke, water etc. The popps' were fine and the accompanying mint sauce, onion salad, mango chutney and red sauce were adequate. Lime pickle wasn't offered but the stand-out was definitely the red sauce lovely, and I'm pleased to see more and more restaurants making this particular condiment available. As a group we don't normally bother with starters, preferring instead to add some side dishes to our mains which included chicken vindaloo, chicken bhuna, chicken rogan josh and chicken korai. For sides we added some mushroom rice, sag aloo, bombay potato, garlic naan and some portions of chips. For my main (and just to be different) I went for a vegetable biryani. Let's get the one or two very minor niggles out of the way first: the vindaloo eater noticed that his dish didn't include the customary potato, but he wasn't too bothered in any case and, mentioning potato, it was agreed all-round that the spuds in both the sag aloo and the bombays had been slightly overdone, making them more softer than what we were used to. That said, they were delicious especially the sag aloo for me, the spinach was spot-on. Also, in my previous review I expressed a slight disappointment regarding the quality of the pilau rice. I'm pleased to report that the vindaloo eater's mushroom rice was near perfect so that's a ghost well and truly exorcised... All four chicken diners thoroughly enjoyed their mains in fact, the korai eater suggested that it was one of the best korai meals he'd had in ages. Praise indeed... My vegetable biryani was a delight, a generous portion beautifully presented and it was accompanied by a vegetable sauce rather than the traditional curry. They complemented each other brilliantly and, having asked for the sauce to be spiced-up dramatically' so far as the heat-level was concerned, I was not disappointed. Really nice and tasty and hot..... After enjoying the obligatory end-of-meal chocolates which came with the bill for five of us, good value I thought) it was time to say farewell to the Reema and make our way towards the station for the train back to Southend. By the time we'd left the restaurant it was almost half-full, which was pleasing. I'm glad that I had the opportunity of making a return trip to this restaurant after just a short time the food was still good, the service was still friendly (although we did have to wait a little while for the bill) and I'm sure that I'll be back at some point in the future. However, after sampling the delights of Brick Lane and the immediate area for what must be almost ten years now, I have many other eateries to visit, revisit and write about first. If you fancy a good restaurant which is just off the main drag of Brick Lane to an area where you shouldn't get hassled by touts' (or at least I haven't to date) then you won't go too far wrong with the Reema."
Chicken Bhuna
