Chaii & Spice Colindale — Restaurant in London

First impression it's like a catering facility or a delivery only 'dark kitchen'. There's no livery, banners, menus or any signifiers that it's open to the public, apart from the quite nice outside/entrance. However a server quickly came up to us and other guests to welcome and seat us. So hopefully they'll roll out the menus and add a few splashes of colour on the inside perhaps with their branding.

We sat near the toilets, which look clean and spacious, however that far in to the place the smoke from the kitchen area settles, and within minutes all our eyes were starting to stream and hurt from the oil and smoke odours. So perhaps the kitchen should be moved to the back where the toilets are, or perhaps more or better ventilation is needed. More menus are required as we are asked to give up some menus were had to another table. It was fine for now but hopefully they're producing them ASAP.

It took the two people in front of me, and myself, a bit longer than usual to place the order, which is fine, as it's all quite new and people need to understand the dishes. However when ours arrived, within the 20 minutes we were kindly warned about, the orders were wrong. We later worked out they'd brought over the order for the table next to us, who had ordered just before us. Unfortunately neither the server or us clocked what had happened, so the dishes specific to them were dumped, and we took the parts of their order which we had also ordered. It took a good 40 mins to an hour to provide both tables with all remaining dishes. During this time every one was quite frustrated but the young lady server had an understanding of customer service and offered us any kind of drink. It kind of ruined the idea of having a family lunch, but hopefully this sort of thing will get ironed out.

Whilst waiting I noticed that the young man behind the kitchen used a stirring spoon to taste a drink, then put the spoon straight back in the bowl. Luckily the server also noticed, and when I checked with her, she explained they'd already ruled that he'd have to make it again. So lucky she had noticed, but I would have expected any kitchen worker to be super hot and on point when it comes to food hygiene. Working at a cafe, surely you have to bring your A game everyday.

They don't offer their masala tea sugar free, which was annoying, as Chaiiwala in nearby Kingsbury does, so you can add your own two sachets so you can tailor your drink to suit. Hopefully they can offer this some time soon.

Food and taste wise, overall sadly the food itself was not great. Their keema paratha is actually chicken mince with cheese. The owner explained very nicely that during product development they couldn't get the lamb keema to taste right and this was better. The problem is that it just makes it taste like a cheese paratha, with hardly any chicken mince flavour, which was not what we were after at all. A lamb keema paratha is a fairly standard thing, so not sure why they can't get it to work. The papri chaat is basically a pile of spicy dust with a layer of yoghurt and a streak of tamarind sauce on top of that. Not unpleasant, but I expected a different texture. I also ordered the bun kebab with egg, and while it tasted OK, it was quite greasy.

The positives are: excellent, patient and attentive owner and manager (as I believe she was). Her two lieutenant servers, and the cook were hardworking and attentive. Spacious toilets (and nice to see a disabled toilet, even if the cafe is not wheelchair accessible due to the steps needed to access); free parking with the Morrisons and Bang Bang car park and a nice industrial aesthetic.

Negatives: Sloppy hygiene by a kitchen helper; only one version of the supersweet chaii, baffling 'keema' paratha; seating layout and cafe design causes eye irritation depending on where you sit; not enough chairs, slow serving times, only one cook

In summary this place has great potential, but let down by (hopefully soon to be resolved)...

Very bland and average at best honestly! Went here to try today (Sunday 15th August 2021) and I placed my order and the wrong foods turned up for both of us, with cheese which I am allergic to! If I took a bite of this I would have seriously been ill! However the lady got the drinks and milk cake order right but that's about it. A lady manager later corrected our order and apologised for the mix up. I also noticed the other lady who took my order beforehand also got everyone else's orders wrong! As the same lady manageress was apologising to the other tables beside me later on too. I'm not sure if the woman who took my order was just having a bad day or was on her first shift or what! - but again will let this slide as it was all resolved in the end.

But the food and chai we had really was average at best, if the food made up for this I wouldn't have minded so much. Both the food and chai we had was just bland. Definitely not authentic masala chai either! Especially when you have chaiiwala and other places not too far serving authentic karak chai I don't expect this place to last long to be quite honest.

This is such a shame as from the outlook this place has potential, but a lot of teething problems with staff in general. However credit to the lady manageress, she is the only good thing we experienced of this place, she deserves some recognition for the pride in her hard work.

I would suggest offering dishes like your chicken and keema paratha with no cheese to cater for those with allergies and those who simply do not like cheese. Seems like the business owner hasn't done any research into people's needs and tastes with this menu at all either.

This would have been a 1 star review but the lady manageress made up for a waste of my time as again, she was the only good thing I experienced at this place during my...

What a great find! Been there a few times and it's always been a great experience. The staff is very friendly and it's more of a family run start up which you can tell by the quality of food. The parathas are really nice and none of that frozen packet kind heated and reheated till stiff and dry kind. These are soft and fresh and are prepared daily. We had the Chicken & Cheese, Cheese and plain and there were delicious. Ordered the papdi chaat which was really nice and freshly made, (see pic), though with my desi taste buds could use a little bit more spice - personal taste I guess. The main item - Bun Kebab, and I must say I was really pleased with it. Nice, fresh, juicy, eggy patty and grilled just the right amount. Not flattened like others. This was very close to authentic and a good size portion as well + the extra chutney - thums up from me. It definitely is a muct try and can easily become their signature item on the menu. For dessert we ordered the Milk Cake (very much like shahi tukray - those who know, know) - quite enjoyed it. Tea wise, we just had regular one which is the kadak chai and we had seconds after. I've been to many other Chai joints, some very popular and some not and this has a very fresh and refreshing taste. I've read few negative reviews here and was really surprised at the brash comments. Go try it for yourself. I must admit it is a bit tucked away but then again enjoy the peace and the setting. The place is also smartly done up with a bit of a contemporary feel and the caromboards are a good addition. Maybe they can add other desi board games, Ludo for instance. Parking is also dead easy. There's KFC across, otherwise you always have Morrison secure car park, and it's hardly a minute walk. Keep up the...