Zyka Restaurant — Restaurant in England

While near for holiday, we had a craving for Indian food and chose Zyka from maps. When we arrived, the restaurant was calm and cosy with some regulars and a healthy dose of humour. You could truly see the staff enjoy their evening as much as the guests. We chose the set menu with a starter and a main. And with our hunger and the great taste you'd think the food evaporated, it was gone so quickly. We started with the papadum with pickles, which was great. They even offered to leave the pickles on the table if we wanted it with the other dishes to come. Of the pickles, I mostly enjoyed the mint one and the mango one. They both had a nice zing to them. When we got to the 'real' starters, my mouth started watering. I had chicken on a type of bread, and it was delicious. You could taste all the herbs and spices without the heat. The same happened with my main. I had the masala. You could taste every herb and spice without heat so you could truly enjoy the complex pallet that is at the heart of the Indian cuisine. And all the food was consumed in the friendliest atmosphere. We talked to the regulars near us, and when we heard they go there multiple times a week, we knew we had found a gem. We were able to get one of the secret desserts, a staff member makes especially for the regular next to us, and it was devine. If we ever return to this region, we will most definitely return to Zyka as well. Highly recommend it to anyone, especially if your...

Staying locally for a week's holiday, and were badly in need of a good tasty Indian to temper the absolute misery of a long day pretending holidays with toddlers are fun, tolerable, or even remotely worthwhile.

Once the little time-sucks were in bed asleep we had a short window of time before one or both of them woke up, refreshed and determined to continue breaking our spirit. We pre-ordered from Zyka and agreed a collection time.

The food was ready when I arrived and handed over instantly. The service was good, the eat-in looked fairly posh. The indian man who took my payment even berated his young, female employee for not holding the door for me on the way out, which was the sort of eccentricity that I always enjoy.

The food was very good. The chicken tikka bhuna was a touch hotter than I usually like, but the doubts I had when I saw the mispelt inscription 'CT BOONA' on the paper lid were soon laid to rest once I wrapped my fat gob around the first piece of tender chicken. My wife had a a special dish, something-garlic-chilli, which was, she says, lovely. Usual pathetic takeaway mango chutney, and only 2 poppadoms (we only ordered 2, but expected there to be more)....

After a long day working as a medic on an ultra distance event, a quick Google of somewhere to eat in Hexham showed the Zyka to have top ratings. We weren't disappointed, the staff were very attentive, and steered us towards the dishes with the freshest ingredients and house specials. The food for an Indian restaurant was cooked to a very high standard, delicately spiced with attention to detail. The Railway Lamb, chunky tender lamb and potatoes (traditionally mutton) was particular highlight, taking you back to the time of the British Raj. This particular dish was first introduced on the Frontier Mail (Golden Temple Mail) run by the Western Railway during pre-independence era. Every aspect of the meal from starters through to the sundries were well cooked, the Peshwari Naan Bread was freshly made, light and aerated in texture and not stodgy as many can be. Special mention to Bobby, who upon finding out what we had been up to supplied desert and a round of Sambuca on the house! A very nice touch and one which was greatly received. I look forward to a repeat trip this...