Restaurant

Name: New Delis
Area: Holborn
Address: 35 Gray's Inn Road
London WC1X 8PG
Phone: 020 7831 6208
Website: www.newdelis.com

Visits to this restaurant ...

1. 22 Feb 2018


Pretentious? Moi?






Visit Report

Visit Number: 214 (visit 1 of 1 for this restaurant)
Date of visit: 22 Feb 2018
Cost per head: £35.00 (1 beer)

Serv Amb Beer Start Nan Rice Main Veg VFM Score Comments
Overall 7.4 5.8 5.4 7.2 7.7 6.1 7.4 6.1 5.4 6.60
Jeff 8 3 6 6 10 8 9 4 4 6.7 See Jeff's comments
Mark 8 5 4 7 7 7 6 5 6.3 See Mark's comments
Alex 8 7 7 7 7 6 6 6 6.7 See Alex's comments
Brian 9 7 7 10 8 8 10 7 8 8.5 See Brian's comments
Dave 8 8 7 7 8 8 9 8 7 7.9 See Dave's comments
Jon 7 7 6 9 7 7 7 6 7.1 See Jon's comments
Graeme 7 4 3 8 4 6 6 4 5.5 See Graeme's comments
Neil 7 7 4 8 6 2 6 6 5 5.8 See Neil's comments
Dominic 5 4 5 3 7 5 7 5 4 5.1 See Dominic's comments

All Comments

Jeff - Good start to the evening in "Ye Olde Cittie of Yorke" an acceptable and cheap blend of tourist attraction and old man's pub. Short stroll to the restaurant. It was set up in a cafe style - no tablecloths, hard chairs, a bit dim. More of a lunch-style place. Anyway, friendly service - you could see they were making an effort to remember who had ordered what. Very funny how irritated Brian got over the menu's hashtags! The food was a bit different, tasty and well presented with tender lamb in my main. The garlic nan was superb, but the soggy and tasteless mushroom bhaji was a let down. Altogether not a bad evening, just lacking in evening-meal style ambience, and perhaps a tad expensive considering the basic decor.

Mark - Why such tiddly overpriced beers? Perhaps that is trendy and deserves a #hashtag. Small tables meant it was a bit tight but at least we were not against a wall. Service was quick and efficient even adding some lime pickle and finishing in time for the early train. Onion Bhaji starter was good as not oily or too dry while the main of Lamb was tasty with a bit of kick along with some tasty rice. Overall impression was positive but not top six level for me. Good pub choice from Jon and glad we did not have to drink Gin. Does Dave lack taste or does everything taste the same?

Alex - Rather compact menu, limited choices for a curry house, despite the cornucopia of #hashtags. Starter was pretty decent, main (not Mum's) was rather unbalanced I thought. They were trying to be different and not entirely succeeding.

Brian - With a menu strewn with hashtags (even "#yum" at the top of one of the sections FFS), I was determined not to like this place, but unfortunately the food was absolutely excellent. The calamari starter was superb, with a nice bit of kick to the accompanying dip. Whilst I'm on starters, I was also struck by the appearance of Jeff's crispy balls, but although I got to take a sip of the spicy water that went with them, I'll have to leave Jeff to comment on how good his balls tasted. For main, I predictably went for the Kolkata Fish Curry, which again could not be faulted.  All sides, sundries and veg were good, and although the sag in the sag aloo was a bit too runny for my liking, it tasted fine. Enjoyed the conversation and company as always, and the Cittie of Yorke must be the cheapest pub I've been to in many years.

Dave - With no Griff set menu I ventured off-piste – choosing calamari for starter and Mum's Chicken Curry for main (despite a warning that it was hot). Popadoms and Chutneys were good and the Calamari was OK (although a bit on the small side in terms of number of rings supplied). The curry was as warned "hot" and prompted a major nose blowing and eye watering episode.  However the dish was very tasty and overall worth enduring the heat side effects.  Beer once again expensive as served in small bottles only.  The complimentary peach schnapps at the end was very pleasant (even had Jeff's as well as he wasn't so keen). Would be happy to return here.

Jon - We started off at the Cittie of Yorke, which is a much more interesting and pleasant venue than the Yorkshire Grey next door to the restaurant, not to mention much cheaper.  An unusual menu which did leave something to be desired, but the food was pretty good.  I went for Lamb Boti Kebab starter that was excellent and the Desi Dhaba Lamb which was not entirely to my taste although I'm not quite sure why, but I did manage to get through it ok.  Disappointing that the beers only came in small bottles, and there was no Cobra, but the large veg dishes were plentiful and tasty.

Graeme - This place may be trendy but I hope it's not the future because it wasn't for me. The decor was minimalistic; they had a pretentious menu 'construct' and very limited menu choices. I suspect that we don't fit their target customer profile. Overall, the food was OK, certainly not unpleasant, but it was quite expensive for what it was. To start I had the Darjeeling Momos ("dumplings stuffed with minced chicken & veggies") which was actually very nice. For main I went for Mum's Chicken Curry - the sauce was quite spicy although it lacked depth and I felt it had been poured over the chicken just before serving. I found the rice a bit dry and didn't finish it. The service was quite efficient although (showing my age?) I wasn't a fan of the waiter's torn jeans. The only beer available was small bottles of Kingfisher (and a couple of non-Indian beers) for £4 per bottle. Wanty did manager to negotiate some free drinks at the end but they were well-dodgy(!) and certainly not liqueurs. As always, a good night out with the guys, although we did descend into a political conversation at one point - never a satisfactory experience.

Neil - Funnily for us we chose not the pub next door but the super cheap Cittie of Yorke 5 mins away. This had a quite an interesting 'cave' like atmosphere, so a great choice in the end. Curry house had a hipster vibe (Dom must have felt at home) and they almost pulled off the artisan dishes barring something that was distinctly off in my biryani, yuck. Starter was good though, tikka cheese thingy, and sides seemed ok. Special mention for the free drink at the end, a mix of the spirits they had left over at the bar but it was actually quite nice!

Dominic - A new eatery this month although not a new location as we had visited its predecessor, Gandhi's, on 2 previous occasions. But having walked past this place a few times and wondered what it may be like, I was very happy for Jon to have nominated it. Unfortunately, it didn't match the anticipation. While they have modernised the decor giving it a slightly trendy feel (inclusive of ##hashtags## adorning the menu!!) it didn't work for me. The service was just adequate all evening with a "fail mark" in the must-bring-rice-out-first-before-other-main-dishes category. The menu was also limited, if not creative, meaning I wasn't a fan of most of the starters so ultimately chose the Crispy Calamari which was overcooked. For the main I chose the Chicken Jalfrezi with a twist - they added garlic (couldn't really taste it) and agreed to give it more "oomf" (which made it more interesting). Overall, not too bad. The rest was just ok although I'll continue the trend of being polar opposite to my stuffed paratha comrade by saying I enjoyed it! The wine was adequate but not impressive. At £35 I felt it was priced for diners who wanted more flash than substance. Nevertheless, another enjoyable night of banter (but no singing from Griff!!) ... well done Jon for arranging it.


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