Restaurant
Name: | Chettinad | |
Area: | Bloomsbury | |
Address: | 16 Percy Street | |
London W1T 1DT | ||
Phone: | 0203 556 1229 | |
Website: | www.chettinadrestaurant.com/london |
Visits to this restaurant ...
1. 28 Jul 2022 |
Visit Report
Visit Number: | 249 (visit 1 of 1 for this restaurant) | |
Date of visit: | 28 Jul 2022 | |
Cost per head: | £41.00 (2 beers) |
Serv | Amb | Beer | Start | Nan | Rice | Main | Veg | VFM | Score | Comments | |
Overall | 6.6 | 7.3 | 6.4 | 6.0 | 6.7 | 7.0 | 7.7 | 7.0 | 6.6 | 6.85 | |
Mark | 8 | 9 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 6.9 | See Mark's comments |
Brian | 7 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 7.5 | See Brian's comments |
Dave | 6 | 10 | 6 | 5 | 10 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 6.9 | See Dave's comments | |
Tim | 5 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 7 | 6 | 6.7 | See Tim's comments |
Jon | 6 | 9 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 6.8 | See Jon's comments |
Graeme | 7 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 6.2 | See Graeme's comments |
Jeff | 7 | 2 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 6.9 | See Jeff's comments | |
All Comments
Mark - Meeting in the multi-doored Fitzroy was good but a challenge for at least one member! Short stroll to The Chettinad which contained a good crowd. The menu was different than standard and most of us went for the Thali option except the well oiled Dave who attempted to go off menu with spicy pops, a prawn puri and chicken curry, none of which were available much to his amazement (RTFM springs to mind!). Soup starter was spicy but thin, main of three different meat dishes plus rice & veg was most enjoyable even if I did get confused with the desert. A good evening.
Brian - A different experience than usual, as all but one of us went for a Thali option, so no choice of pops, no separate starter etc. I (predictably) went for the seafood Thali, and I've marked the prawns as my starter. Really enjoyed the meal, and I think it was £41 per person, so decent vfm. I quite liked having smaller portions of a variety of dishes, although I wouldn't do this every time. Felt for Dave and his repeated and futile requests for 2 spicy popadoms, but it was amusing.
Dave - Busy restaurant gave rise to a good ambience - service marked down as despite clearly saying to me they would do spicy popadums and plain Nan bread - neither materialised - I then had to (I felt very guilty) raid everyone else's non spicy popadums which they had got as part of their set meal. Having held back eating my lamb starter I then discovered that the others set meal didn't have a starter so ended up eating starter and main at the same time. The one good thing that came out of it was I discovered that I liked the replacement bread but I've forgotten what it's called. Also discovered a new pouring technique for beer where you turn the bottle upside down and gradually lift out of glass. Repeated this with a can of coke with my tea the next day and it really does work!
Tim - The Chettinad had a somewhat different menu from what we normally see (southern Indian cuisine). As the average price of a starter was around £10, many of us opted for one of the thalis - I had the Chettinad thali, which included poppadoms, soup, some meat dishes, some vegetable dishes, rice, a puri (a fried bread) and a dessert. The poppadoms were served in quarters, which I think is a more convenient size. Initially we were only provided with 3 small pots of condiments for 7 people, but they did bring some more later, when requested. The soup was thin, but had a good meaty flavour. I enjoyed the various thali dishes; there were some different spices from what I'm used to, so all the dishes had flavours I didn't recognise; this carried through to the rice, which was also spiced unusually and seemed very slightly sweet. The dessert was also pleasant, being not too sweet, though I didn't recognise the flavour. The dishes in the thali seemed quite small, and initially I was worried there wouldn't be enough, but I was pleasantly full by the end, though probably more from the rice and breads than the meat dishes. The service was initially quite good, but after they delivered the mains, the waiting staff were mostly absent, and I ended up going to the bar to order more beer. The overall cost was much the same as other recent venues (~£40), though we probably saved some money by having fewer beers than usual. No free round of liqueurs, and not even any chocolates to finish.
Jon - The Chettinad was something of a departure from our usual Indian restaurants. Being a south Indian venue, there were none of the usual dishes we've come to expect from traditional Bangladeshi cuisine as we find in Brick Lane and, as a result, most of us opted for thalis which enabled us to sample different tastes but made it very difficult to mark! I have consequently marked the starter, main and veg the same to reflect the whole of the thali. I don't mind a puri, which was the bread offered, but without the usual prawn accompaniment, it's not as good as a nan (although I rarely partake these days). Service was ok to start but once the food had been delivered, they seemed to ignore us. A good evening as usual and the restaurant was a nice place to be in, and very lively. It was a good meal, and I might go back, but not sure it's right for CurryMarks as it's difficult to compare with other restaurants.
Graeme - I was the first to arrive at the pub - not surprising, as I was at the wrong pub - the Fitzrovia instead of the Fitzroy Tavern! And so to the restaurant. This was a different style of restaurant to our 'norm'. It didn't have the usual dishes, but instead served South Indian cuisine. I went for the Seafood Thali which included the whole meal from poppadoms through to desert. Most of the elements of the meal came in its own fairly small ramekin and, although the food was generally good, I didn't like just having a 'taster' sized portion of the main course(s). I do like to have a proper portion! The soup (Rasam, I believe) was unusual but very tasty. I thought the overall cost was a little on the high side for what we had but, judging by the £6.70 I paid for a pint of Hells in the (wrong) pub, I guess this is not a cheap area.
Jeff - So we were in Bloomsbury/Fitzrovia, at my suggestion, although I had not visited the place, I had walked past before. It was very modern, quite big, with upmarket wall decorations fashioned from wood, and fancy lighting. The menu was quite different, and service was polite but very quick so before I had looked we were asked what we wanted. So I, along with most of us, chose the £29 Thali, which was available in Fish, Meat, or Veg versions, and came with a thin soup - which I sadly didn't really enjoy - and plentiful poppadoms. The rest of the Thali was delicious and was plenty enough to eat with 2 or 3 meat dishes although I maybe could have done with some spinach. My main problem here though was how noisy it was, with nothing but hard surfaces in a big room, conversation was somewhat limited; as a consequence everyone in the whole place raises their voice to still higher decibels. For that reason, sadly, I've marked the ambience down to a very low score. I also think they could have had a more inspiring beer choice than just the standard Cobra/Kingfisher axis.