Restaurant

Name: Sajna
Area: Brick Lane
Address: 30 Osborn Street
London E1 6TD
Phone: 020 7392 2100
Website:

Visits to this restaurant ...

1. 25 Aug 2011


Fairy lights, plastic flowers, Bollywood films on a 14-inch TV?
Who said "Tacky"?

Visit Report

Visit Number: 137 (visit 1 of 1 for this restaurant)
Date of visit: 25 Aug 2011
Cost per head: £21.00 (2 beers)

Serv Amb Beer Start Nan Rice Main Veg VFM Score Comments
Overall 6.1 5.0 6.9 5.4 4.8 6.1 5.6 5.6 6.4 5.76
Dominic 6 4 7 4 4 6 5 7 5.4 See Dominic's comments
Mark 7 6 6 8 6 4 5 6 5.9 See Mark's comments
Brian 6 3 6 5 5 5 6 6 6 5.4 See Brian's comments
Robin 5 5 7 6 6 7 6 6 7 6.1 See Robin's comments
Jon 8 7 7 5 6 7 7 7 8 6.8 See Jon's comments
Richard 3 2 6 4 4 4 4 4 3 3.8 See Richard's comments
John 7 7 9 6 6 6 6 6 8 6.7 See John's comments
Neil 7 6 7 5 2 10 6 6 6 6.0 See Neil's comments

All Comments

Dominic - Another trip to Brick Lane where this time we were "escorted" to one end of the road by Wratts in pursuit of an eatery he knows ... so once we established it didn't exist we ended up eating in the nearest place to our then location ... I wish we hadn't! We were bundled downstairs to a table near the kitchen where the meal was somewhat disappointing throughout. My Reshmi Kebab was a tad bland though my King Prawn Sag was not too bad. Sides were mediocre at best but the wine and overall cost made the evening a little better but I felt there are plenty of other locations which would have been preferable. Once again, we sent a plea to Graeme to at least phone in when he can't make a Curry outing to take charge of the sides ordering ... anarchy once again!!! ... not to mention Brian "itching for a stoush" as he is want to do especially during footy season!!

Mark - Standard Subterranean Brick Lane fare that was not a great advert for the area. No idea what offer we had as Wrats managed to forget between the door and the table. The bill only had 3 numbers on, 1 for food, 1 for drink & the total so no way to check but seemed reasonable. Starter of chicken stuffed pepper was good but a bit small but the main meals, I had Chicken Chilli Marsala all came up looking a bit congealed. Rice was multi coloured and the veg dishes looked tad tired. Enjoyable evening but that was the company rather than the meal. Does anyone else think that Dom was looking Griffesque due to his ill fitting suit?

Brian - Main course was OK, although not generous enough with the lamb.  Starter of Lamb Chop had no chicken in it, which might seem a bizarre observation, but the description on the menu promised diced chicken served on a puri, which did not materialise.  The toilets (and sink!) were so crammed full of those little smelly disinfectant cubes that visiting the lavatory was akin to being pepper-sprayed by an over-zealous member of the SPG, and it took several cigarettes to clear the noxious fumes from my throat.  Overall, exactly what I'd expect these days from Brick Lane - fair to middling food, shabby interior, reasonably cheap with plenty of room for improvement on all fronts.

Robin - It didn't help the ambience much that we were seated in the basement next to the loos, which were liberally supplied with camphor balls and quite pongy (Wikipedia: "... a waxy, white or transparent solid with a strong, aromatic odor ... used for its scent, as an ingredient in cooking (mainly in India), as an embalming fluid ..." - I do hope that its only use in this establishment was for its scent). My reshmi kebab starter was nice enough but very small, and didn't arrive for a very long time. They also managed to forget my main dish order (moghul makhani) so again I had a long wait while everybody else tucked into their mains. The moghul dish was fairly spicy (chicken), a decent size but really oily (I know that "makhani" means "with butter" but it was positively drowning in orange coloured grease) otherwise it would have been worth another couple of points. The special rice was ok, the other veg dishes were nice enough but again rather greasy, so it's a real pity that I can't award a higher VFM despite the meal being extremely cheap by current standards. I'm afraid we got what we paid for.

Jon - It was a typical Brick Lane experience – inexpensive but average.  To be fair, there wasn't much wrong with the food; the reshmi kebab starter was a little on the small size (and I could complain about the mango "chutney", but given I don't normally eat it and I'm sure Brian will give it due attention, I won't bother!), the nan no better than average, but I enjoyed the special rice and the veg dishes, and the main course, a Sajna Special, was different, with a mix of meats and prawns, and was quite tasty.  I wouldn't rush back, but it wasn't bad.

Richard - We were after a reasonable price after last month, and John seemed determined to take us "back to basics", and the curryhouse was basic indeed, at the fag end of Brick Lane. John arranged a good deal with the tout – so good he couldn't remember the details. Ambience was very downmarket, down as far as having urinal cleaning crystals in the sink (reminds me of Graeme's bidet experience...). Service was OK but seemed to forget dishes, chicken tandoori was ordinary, and the Chicken Tikka Rongin – "wrong 'un"? – was fine but a bit greasy, which basically sums up the place for me.

John - Cheap and cheerful - average food, small-ish portions but fairly good value. Premium bottled beer also included in the price.

Neil - Back to the early days of the curry club, downstairs next to the loos in a naff bit of Brick Lane.  Had a great time though, possibly because of the old school feel. The food was nothing to get excited about so no surprises that it didn't cost much. On the plus side, special rice was excellent although it may have been more at home in a Chinese restaurant. Nan was terrible, yuck, and starter, main and veg very average. In hindsight a great choice of pre-curry drinks, narrowly avoiding, literally, hundreds of very drunk Hearts fans taking over Bishopsgate. Thankfully, Brian decided not to wear his Spurs replica kit.


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