Boxwallah — Restaurant in London

Hands down the worst service I have ever experienced in my life. Ordered the butter chicken, which I even asked and the man in the kitchen confirmed is served with rice AND a salad. When I received my plate, it had a tablespoon of diced cucumber on it, calling that a “salad” is a sad excuse. It gets worse! When I sit down and taste the chicken, it is rubbery, chewy and bland. The rice also has no flavour, the best part of the plate is the tablespoon of cucumber. I am not a fussy person normally, but I returned the food and told the staff (a woman sitting at the bar with her laptop, drinking; and a guy in the kitchen), that the food wasn’t good. Instead of taking it on board and recrifying, the man in the kitchen sticks his finger in my plate and starts pulling the chicken apart, and to prove that it’s cooked edible he starts eating it from my plate, his fingers covered in butter chicken sauce. I try and argue that just because it’s cooked it doesn’t mean it tastes good. The woman is dumbfounded that I dare complain, and after laughing at me turns away in anger. Refund isn’t possible, so I pick something else from the menu to have instead. No surprise, the paneer is just as bland as my dish before. When picking it up from the kitchen, I sent my boyfriend to whome the woman at the counter remarks that “his girlfriend isn’t cool”. Honestly, I don’t understand the good reviews! Has this place changed owners recently? I wish I had taken a photo...

I would write them a poem but since I am not a poet here it goes - As someone from Dhaka, I know what authentic biriyani should taste like. For the last year, I have been sampling many of the Londons biriyanis and sadly most of them (even the big name ones) disappointed me. They were usually too bland and dry. But not Boxwallah! The first morsel of biriyani I put in my mouth took me back to Dhaka. The flavor of ghee and saffron, the juiciness of the meat, not too oily, not too spicy, just perfect chicken biriyani. 10/10

Then came the butter chicken. 10/10. Other butter chickens I tried around were too sweet with extra sugar, mostly to hide the lack of flavor. Boxwallahs butter chicken (which they cleverly named BBC), has the perfect flavor so they dont need to mask this with extra sugar.

The daal tadka was average. 6/10. The mango chutney was superbly mouth-watering. The lamb tikki is nice with a splendid scent of herbs and spices. We actually started nibbling on those right after opening the box since they looked so nice. 9/10

One additional thing. We ordered home delivery. The way the food came packaged in layers reminded me of the "Boxwallahs" back home delivering lunch in the office districts. They must have put extra thought into how to package their deliveries to do justice to their name. All in all, great experience ordering from them. I do not order often but will definitely order from them...

My order was placed on 11th March via Deliveroo . I ordered 3 dishes which were Goan Prawn Curry , Jaffna coconut chicken curry & Carrot halwa. Firstly I was unaware that there was a promotion offer for orders £20 however after placing my order and I was awaiting my delivery, I got a call from the box wallahs kitchen , I am guessing the owner himself who reminded me of my the offer and that i was entitled to an additional dish that will be added to my order and I was given choices. This act by the owner to me is a pure reflection of a superior customer service. Food arrived along with the free additional Dish along with same quantity of rice with curry showing they were not ready to cut corners.

Coming to the dishes: Goan Prawn curry was an absolute delight. It had an impeccable blend of spice mixture and Perfect authentic taste to me as I am a Konkani and I know how it must taste. Other 2 dishes were equally tasty and could not fault them on taste & quantity. Each curry’s had their unique taste. Carrot halwa was perfect with nothing in excess such as sweetness, or overly greasy. All the dishes were reasonable in cost which was also a big surprise. All in all I give Boxwallah’s a 5 star on all categories. And with a promise to...