Restaurant

Name: Masala
Area: Brick Lane
Address: 88 Brick Lane
London E1 6RL
Phone: 020 7539 9448
Website: www.masalabricklane.net

Visits to this restaurant ...

1. 28 Jun 2012|2. 25 Jul 2013|3. 25 Sep 2014|4. 26 Mar 2015|5. 28 Jul 2016
6. 30 Nov 2017|7. 21 Dec 2022


Griff is distraught as he presents the offending under-cooked and over-cooked spicy poppodums.






Visit Report

Visit Number: 254 (visit 7 of 7 for this restaurant)
Date of visit: 21 Dec 2022
Cost per head: £41.50 (2 beers)

Serv Amb Beer Start Nan Rice Main Veg VFM Score Comments
Overall 5.8 6.8 6.6 6.4 6.3 7.1 7.0 6.2 5.8 6.51
Neil 3 7 6 6 7 7 7 7 6.3 See Neil's comments
Graeme 8 7 6 7 7 8 7 7 7.2 See Graeme's comments
John 4 4 4 3 2 5 2 4 4 3.4 See John's comments
Mark 6 8 6 8 8 7 5 6.9 See Mark's comments
Jeff 4 7 7 5 6 8 7 6 3 6.0 See Jeff's comments
Brian 7 7 9 10 8 8 9 7 8 8.3 See Brian's comments
Dave 7 8 8 5 7 7 8 7 7 7.1 See Dave's comments
Dominic 7 6 7 7 8 7 8 6 5 6.9 See Dominic's comments

All Comments

Neil - After some debate over the date and meeting pub we all assembled at the Masala in Brick Lane, a curry house we've visited before. Service wasn't that great though and they ignored us on several occasions, so I've given a low mark on that account. Food looked average but was actually very tasty, my chicken tikka starter and biryani main were great and I finished the lot which is unusual for me. Stuffed paratha also good. Dom's arranged discount certainly helped with the VFM score; a lot of festive alcohol was consumed but seemed a normal price in the end. Avoided the 'unknown' free liqueur, probably a good choice given the facial expressions of the others!

Graeme - I arrived early at the White Hart but then spent a lonely hour there until Dom arrived - the others (I didn't realise it was going to be everyone else) having decided to go to the PoS. We haven't been to Masala for 5 years and, in that time, the price has gone up quite a bit and the quality of my food wasn't as special as before - it was still good though. When the waiter came to take our order, I hadn't looked at the menu so I just said that I would have the same as Rats - Lamb Sheek Kebab - nice. For main, I had my 'go to' Garlic Chilli Chicken - it was good but not as good as some previous visits and the portion was a bit small. All-in-all, a very enjoyable meal.

John - Sub-standard Brick Lane curry joint – worst garlic chilli chicken I've ever had. Sheek kebab starter not much better. Brewers Gold in the Pride of Spitalfields was good though so the pub made up for it!

Mark - Earlier start than normal meant the boozer was not too crowded and a good warm up for a trip to Brick Lane. Reasonable crowd for pre-Xmas meant it was fairly lively. Chicken Tikka starter was good size and meat was tasty and well marinated. Main of Lamb Kauri was meant to be sizzling in its dish but was not so a point deducted. However it was fairly good and sat well with mushroom pilau. A most enjoyable evening and great to see a good turnout to end the year.

Jeff - Masala has gone downhill I'm afraid since our last visit 4 or 5 years ago.  Patchy and slow service, ok-ish ambience, and average food - although the dishes were at least quite large.  A draft beer was on which makes a change, but doesn't save the restaurant from getting a low overall mark. Without our discount it would have cost more than £50 each. Madness.

Brian - Another enjoyable evening with the curry club. Pride of Spitalfields remains a proper pub, and my favourite in the area (not that I've tried THAT many others). I went for the chilli paneer starter, which was really good, and spicy enough to cause a brief outbreak of chilli hiccups. Lamb and pumpkin main was also good, and a bit different. When I expressed my disappointment at there being no fish on the menu, the waiter said he'd bring some fish masala for me to try. The chef was obviously not amenable, as it never appeared. I stand by my assertion that a prawn is to a fish what a wood louse is to a lamb.

Dave - Enjoyable evening at the masala - booze marked high because Heineken available on draught - starter marked down for the disastrous spicy popadom episode - first delivered 70% uncooked and then re delivered burnt - the only plus point was that a new set was eventually provided - third time lucky! I was banned from choosing chicken curry  by Brian so ended up going for chilli chicken (with no chilli and extra sauce requested).

Dominic - Having nominated to be CC this month, I thought it would be a safe bet to choose a Brick Lane venue that had recently featured in our top 6, so I opted for the Masala. I've always found it to be a modern eatery and it quickly filled up as the night progressed, given that we agreed on an earlier 6.30pm reservation. Service was usually good, however, we struggled on a couple of occasions to get anyone's attention. My starter of Lamb Tikka was very tender, although not that plentiful, while my main of Bollywood Blast was an international "chilli-fest" and quite tasty. No standouts in the veg or rice, however, the stuffed paratha was very good indeed. A free round of (I'm going to say lychee liqueur?) was interesting and a welcome gesture. Great to see a number of the members, especially the "bobsy-twins" who decided to dress in the same shirt, but no Christmas carol singing this year which was a godsend to all the other diners! Merry Christmas everyone!


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