Restaurant
Name: | The Empress | |
Area: | Whitechapel | |
Address: | 141 Leman Street | |
London E1 8EY | ||
Phone: | 020 7265 0745 | |
Website: | www.theempress.co.uk |
Visits to this restaurant ...
1. 25 Apr 2013 | | | 2. 30 Jan 2014 | | | 3. 24 Sep 2015 | | | 4. 24 Nov 2016 | | | 5. 25 May 2017 |
6. 31 May 2018 | | | 7. 28 Nov 2019 | | | 8. 30 Sep 2021 | | | 9. 27 Jul 2023 |
Visit Report
Visit Number: | 235 (visit 7 of 9 for this restaurant) | |
Date of visit: | 28 Nov 2019 | |
Cost per head: | £35.00 (2 beers) |
Serv | Amb | Beer | Start | Nan | Rice | Main | Veg | VFM | Score | Comments | |
Overall | 8.4 | 7.9 | 7.0 | 8.4 | 7.5 | 7.4 | 8.3 | 7.5 | 7.6 | 7.89 | |
Jon | 8 | 7 | 7 | 9 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 7.5 | See Jon's comments | |
John | 9 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 7.6 | See John's comments |
Jeff | 9 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 7.2 | See Jeff's comments |
Neil | 9 | 9 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 9 | 7 | 7.7 | See Neil's comments | ||
Mark | 8 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 7.2 | See Mark's comments | |
Dave | 9 | 9 | 7 | 10 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 8.6 | See Dave's comments |
Richard | 8 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8.1 | See Richard's comments |
Alex | 8 | 8 | 7 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8.2 | See Alex's comments | |
Brian | 8 | 8 | 7 | 10 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 8 | 10 | 8.9 | See Brian's comments |
All Comments
Jon - Another solid performance from the Empress, only slightly let down by the lack of choice on free liqueurs - he obviously had a bottle of port to get rid of, not that I was complaining too much! It's not very often that I have something green on a curry night that isn't spinach, but I did eat the large lettuce leaf that came with the excellent House Special Chat starter. I went for the Dhaka Murgh Dansak for my main which was nice, but only confirmed that I do much prefer lamb to chicken when it comes to Indian food. Good night as usual, although we missed our "currymarks couple" who both exercised a late withdrawal.
John - Restaurant could do with some heating as pretty chilly in there. Food good though: Garlic King Pawns followed by special Chicken Tikka Masala. Nice comp glass of port at the end was very welcome.
Jeff - The Empress was not quite as empressive as previous visits. The average cost has gone up from £26 to £35, it was relatively empty, and vegetables and rice were in quite small portions. Service was engaging and quite quick although I've marked down to 9 as they didn't know whose dinner was whose. Still a very good visit though with quality food.
Neil - A return visit to our number one curry house and it didn't disappoint. The normal banter from the waiters, great food and a reasonable price. Special mention for the chicken dhansak, very tasty indeed. The lamb chop starter nice but not quite up to the hype of the waiter, prawns were excellent however. The pub next door (Brown Bear) is great as well, my compulsory comment that it used to be super cheap, now only good value! Required a post-curry beer to double check! Hopefully back next year.
Mark - Even with only 3/4 of the advertised attendees actually arriving we still had a good turn out and evening. Brown Bear beers to start is always welcome followed by a welcoming greeting at The Empress. Lamb Tikka starter was tasty with moist meat and reasonable portion. Chicken Sag main was plentiful and good flavours - I avoided anything too spicy due to following day commitments. Finger ordering below par due to absence of G (as he signs emails!), no wine as D&T also absent. Accompaniments good as was my big rice dish. For East End it may seem costly but some of the City snob-grubs could learn a lesson or two from The Empress on quality of food and overall service. Post meal port snifter delightful and washed down with another Brown Bear beer.
Dave - Great performance from the Empress. Hit the spot with the king prawn puri and chicken curry - definitely deserves its top ranking.
Richard - Truly the Empress of curry houses! And the Brown Bear for a quiet pint beforehand is sublime (well until the well-oiled pre-loaders arrived anyway). Tasty and nicely grilled and marinated lamb chops to start, followed by a very good chicken tikka biryani. Pops, sides and nan all very good, with friendly service. I didn't venture to any very exciting food but they do the basics so well. The Empress deserves to retain their regular top placing on our site.
Alex - Good stuff at the Empress with its attentive and friendly manager. Food remains fully up to scratch with some nice variations in the menu.
Brian - Another fine showing from the Empress, although I think that next time I'll try something different, assuming of course there is a next time. The mussels starter and Cumin Talapia main were wonderful, as usual, and the sundries were all to a good standard. Apologies due to the main man, for my mistaken insistence that there used to be a calamari starter - I know I've had one somewhere, but it's the mussels that I've had a few times at the Empress.