Restaurant
Name: | Bengal Cuisine | |
Area: | Brick Lane | |
Address: | 12 Brick Lane | |
London E1 6RF | ||
Phone: | 020 7377 8405 | |
Website: | www.bengalcuisine.net |
Visits to this restaurant ...
1. 28 Dec 2000 | | | 2. 26 Aug 2004 | | | 3. 26 May 2005 |
Visit Report
Visit Number: | 62 (visit 3 of 3 for this restaurant) | |
Date of visit: | 26 May 2005 | |
Cost per head: | £17.50 (2 beers) |
Serv | Amb | Beer | Start | Nan | Rice | Main | Veg | VFM | Score | Comments | |
Overall | 5.4 | 6.3 | 7.8 | 6.6 | 5.8 | 6.1 | 5.3 | 6.6 | 6.6 | 6.18 | |
Mark | 2 | 6 | 9 | 8 | 6 | 7 | 1 | 3 | 4.9 | See Mark's comments | |
Tim | 7 | 6 | 8 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 9 | 7 | 9 | 7.4 | See Tim's comments |
Brian | 6 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 6.4 | See Brian's comments | |
Dave | 6 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 6.4 | See Dave's comments |
Richard | 7 | 6 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 4.5 | See Richard's comments |
Jeff | 4 | 6 | 9 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 6.5 | See Jeff's comments | |
Tony (Guest) | 7 | 7 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 6.8 | See Tony's comments |
Jon | 4 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 6.5 | See Jon's comments |
All Comments
Mark - The Bengal Cuisine served the most pathetic main meal I have had in over 50 outing with www.currymarks.com. Having tried to serve me an unordered Chicken Korma 3 times they realised I had ordered Lamb Kori. They managed to prepare this within 2 minutes by thinly slicing up one piece of lamb tikka, mixing it with lots of onions, peppers & sauce and calling it a meal. Diabolical! Mixed kebab(?) starter was excellent, beer was good and company excellent although unusual with no Wrats, Robin or Legend to celebrate 10 years of GRD - puppets, Celebrity Love Island and drinking for 'charidee' being the excuses but not in that order. Shame the main 'meal' was so bad and the service with a snarl did not help either.
Tim - This is a smart, clean restaurant, although I've marked the Ambience down slightly as it was bit bright and sterile. They had both Cobra and Kingfisher on draught. Starter of meat samosa was tasty, although I found the pastry a little thick and dry. Main course of Handi Gosht was excellent with lots of good quality lamb. No complaints about the vegetables, rice or nan. With the pre-negotiated discount of 10%, no service charge and a free beer, the overall cost was refreshingly low, and coupled with good-size portions of excellent food, this is certainly one I'd expect to revisit.
Brian - The King Prawn Puri starter was the highlight for me. Main course of Lamb/sag was average - tender meat but not really enough of it. Veg was good - brinjal bhaji made a nice change. Draught Cobra was also good. Conversation and company excellent as always - confirmation that we're all getting older was provided by the amount of nostalgic reminiscing going on - mainly from me! Shame that Smashy (or Nicey?) couldn't make it, but hey, we've all got to do our bit for charideee (and there was a free bar apparently).
Dave - Middle of the road performance from the Bengal Cuisine - let down by a very watery chicken curry sauce and luke warm "plastic" hot towels. Good negotiations at the door led to good VFM - but overall I would not expect to see back in the top six. Roll on February 2007!
Richard - A decent mixed grill starter and good poppadums, but my Lamb Makhni was tasteless, the rice was soggy and peshwari nan was too sugary. However, we had decent service, draught cobra delivered swiftly, and there was a reasonable buzz to the place. The cheap price of the curry seems less important now almost all members are back at work, and didn't make up for the poor food. Jon maintained a dignified smugness unlike the expected triumphalism.
Jeff - I like this place. It looks good but not over the top, and the all-glass exterior gives it almost an outdoor feel, perfect for an unseasonally hot evening. The food is better than average, the choice of two draft Indian beers is a big plus point, and a discount including a free beer was very welcome. And we didn't discuss the new Star Wars film. Very good value for money, if you don't mind the service which borders on rude.
Tony - Tidy place, with windows all around to see fights in the street should there be any. Light and airy and can see the talent if any showed up. Alas, the talent left as we were demolishing our starters. Still a popular place with a mixture of age groups and suits and casuals in balance. Waiters remembered our orders and beers came rapidly when asked for. We got one beer free although £3.50 a bit steep for the Cobra thereafter. Kingfishers cheaper. Excellent starter, but let down by the chutneys with the poppodoms which were standard fare. Good size portion of rice shared between two. Good sized main meal and succulent chicken. Discount negotiated up front and a free beer, prices keen for the food considering the quality.
Jon - I can’t really put my finger on what it was, but the Bengal Cuisine didn’t really do it for me. The service was unfriendly and a little disorganised and they still haven’t worked out how to do a shami kebab. The mixed kebab starter was good but the balti chicken madras was disappointing, as was the special rice. Griff’s off-the-wall order of a Cauliflower Bhaji was a decent addition to a pretty good array of vegetables.