Belash Crouch End — Restaurant in London

A food/restaurant critic once suggested that a a lot can be judged of a restaurant by its toilets. Not that it is a retro-look, it seems that the Belash toilet and washroom facilities have not been updated since the late sixties. The food served appears just as tired, and void of innovation.

If you like curry, I suggest this is not the place to go. However, if you're easily charmed and don't mind having several dishes (and courses) made from the same base sauce (the translation for 'balti' literally is 'bucket', in case you didn't know) then this is the place for you. For example, Keema is traditionally a 'dry' dish (that is, not in a sauce, or gravy). The Belash version is to take a handful of mince, whack it in the karahi, and DROWN it with the same sauce as my mate had over his 'chicken ghosht'., Coincidentally, the prawn puree also had the same sauce over it.

To be fair, the waiters were all smiles; on balance they were trying to impress us. Sadly it wasn't with the food. When we walked in off the street, we (very clearly) asked if they served "KING Cobra" beer. The waiter responded - very positively - that they did, and even confirmed that it was the "one in like a champagne bottle". Bingo! We came in, hung up our coats and sat down ready to order one of these bad boys (each, I hasten to add). Another waiter came and was very keen to put a number on how many poppadoms we'd like on the table. We joked that as long as he brings us those KING Cobras, he can keep the poppadoms coming all evening. Off he went to fetch the POPPADOMS. Right! Let's see those KING Cobras, then? And at this point, another waiter came along (who appeared to be in charge of the show) and asked how many (there were eight of us). It was at this point he told us that they DID NOT serve King Cobra. After a short discussion, we established that it wasn't that they'd run out, or hadn't unloaded the van from their trip to the cash and carry, they NEVER HAVE kept the stuff. If I'm being cynical, I'd suggest they tricked us into coming in and ordering (hence the urgency to take an order and get us started on the poppadoms). But you can forgive someone for being a bit overzealous, especially if they redeem themselves with an out-of-this-world take on Indian cuisine. They didn't. In fact, what they serve should be removed from this planet; it's just so English, i.e., the kind of dishes which taste like curry, but actually aren't at all. Frankly speaking, a packaged supermarket brand has packed more imagination into an experience than what the Belash served us.

In summary: dated, unimaginative and misleading use of the words, 'Indian', 'curry'...

Since our favorite Indian Restaurant in Crouch End "Saffron " has just been closed down and a Japanese Restaurant has risen from it's ashes we decided to cross the road and try The Belash. It was busy inside which we thought was a good sign. Service was reasonable and the drinks came quickly with a miserly small half bowl of spiced nuts etc..

We were used to large pappadoms....but I'm afraid Belash 's are a tage on the tiny side more like nouvaux poppadoms so when the the "one" came we ordered a second one !!!

The starter was not bad....Chicken Tikka. ..good so far ..well ok.. ish. Main course was Chicken curry and a lamb tikka karoi. Totally disappointed. ...A Magnum ice cream would have tasted spicier and hotter and the lamb Karoi was at best bland....Needless to say the curry got left almost entirely and the karoi only half ate. The rice was ok though !!!!

We told the waiter exactly what we thought but unsurprisingly he didn't care in the slightest. Got the bill £ 26 .....pointed out to to the waiter that the poppadoms were 70p each so why we're they charging £2.40...of course, should have guessed ...There's a 50p chutney charge per person that didn't quite make it to print on the menu...should have guessed that one !!!

Left feeling cheated but won't go back there again.

Advice : ONE TO AVOID...

Edit: because I can’t reply to the restaurant. There was an active choice made to not provide good or helpful customer service. I have never experienced a restaurant screaming down the phone at a customer. And we asked to pay extra for someone else to deliver, but this was not accepted by the restaurant until over an hour later, by which time the food was cold, sitting out and our guests were nearly heading home.

This was my favourite curry house for years with excellent food. However, I have had such a disgraceful experience tonight that I will never go back, and I recommend that others follow. We were only delivered a small part of our order. We waited for over an hour for our second part to come. We spent nearly an hour on the phone with the restaurant, who were rude, obnoxious and uncaring. They brought my partner to tears by screaming at her on the phone that it was her fault. We asked if we could pay extra for them to send one of their own drivers and they refused, but an hour later called us to say they could do it, after the food had been sat out and was cold. We never got our food, and my mums birthday was ruined. Shocking customer service, I have never had an experience this bad, and will never eat here again....