Empire Empire — Restaurant in London

I had wanted to visit Empire Empire for some time after hearing good things about their food from various sources. I finally had the opportunity the other day and had a great dining experience.

The restaurant has a Bollywood disco theme which is more understated than it sounds and any music played is there as background and not at all overpowering. The room where I had my meal was decorated with LP covers of Indian and Western artists, which was a nice touch.

The food at Empire Empire is influenced by Punjabi cuisine. I started my meal with the Kale Patta Chaat and Tandoori Haryali Fish Tikka and highly recommend both. The Kale Patt Chaat was a delightful combination of cream and crunch. The fish in the Tandoori Haryali was cooked perfectly and I really liked the contrast between the mild chilli of the fish with the slightly citric taste of the desi coleslaw.

For my main course, I was initially going to have Empire Empire’s famous Butter Chicken, but my server Sudeep recommended the Laal Maas when I said that I liked heat and spice. I am glad that I went with his suggestion. The lamb in the laal maas was succulent and tender and the sauce had enough spice without being overpowering. It was a delicious curry with a good amount of meat. Even the accompanying rice and garlic naan were cooked very well.

Although my starters and main course were very filling, I had to have dessert and was torn between the Gulab Jamun & Meringue Cheesecake and the Saffron Milk Cake. In the end, I again went with Sudeep’s recommendation and had the Gulab Jamun. It was one of the best desserts I have had for a while. Despite being made from cream, it was not heavy and I really liked the slightly savoury aftertaste. I really savoured each mouthful and it went well with the dessert wine I ordered.

The customer service at Empire Empire was also excellent. When I arrived, I received a warm welcome and after I asked if I could move to a different table, they accommodated me with no fuss. Sudeep and his colleague were also attentive and very helpful during my meal, without being intrusive and I could enjoy eating at my own pace.

I would happily return to Empire Empire for a meal in the future and I am planning to finally try the Butter Chicken and the Saffron Milk Cake next time. I recommend a visit if you would like well-cooked Indian food with a menu made up of familiar and more...

This new eatery, is part of the Gunpowder restaurant family.

It’s a 7 minutes walk from Westbourne Park station. Which is the Hammersmith & City Line, if using public transport.

If driving, parking is possible. However, it’s mostly residential parking. So perhaps pay and display or via an app, as most councils are asking for drivers to pay these days; i.e. PayByPhone

I took advantage of their last day for their soft launch prices. Which was 50% off food only.

The inside decor is sort of a mesh between a cafe or one of those convenience stores you can find at an international station.

Hence the theme, they play some catchy Indian tracks too.

I was offered a single table which i found to be quite small in all honesty. I was seated, just behind one of the stations, where have cutlery, etc. I was told i won’t be disturbed as much. Regrettably, this wasn’t the case.

The toilets are located downstairs, to were you’re pre-warned to mind your head on multiple instance. I personally see this being a hinderance to either talk and big people, like myself. The toilet cubicles are unisex.

So, for a starter, I’d ordered the onion and kale pakoras. This was more like an onion bhaji. The tones and notes of flavour were nothing distinctively kale about it. Not very oily.

For main, a butter chicken which comes with steam rice; please note there’s no other rice side dishes. So this for me was a sub-par butter chicken, more thick than an even creamy substance. This was a tad spicier compare to other butter chicken dishes that I’ve tried elsewhere. I’d also ordered a portion of garlic naan and lachna Paratha. Sadly, again these were a miss for me. No strong garlic butter or garlic taste, not soft enough and this was very subtle and I found to be somewhat hard than other naans of the same flavour tried elsewhere. Needed more time in the tandoor oven and more garlic ‘punch’ to the flavour of the bread. The paratha was not flaky and not as enjoyable.

The only thing I will give a high score for is the service. Very friendly, attentive and welcoming.

Their alcoholic drink selection is very limited too; i.e. no Kingfisher, Cobra

please also take note, this restaurant at present is only taking card. I find this to be unacceptable in all honesty. We don’t live in a cashless society and cash is legal tender, still. I find this to be accepted too, if all in honesty.

Not a stand out...

I am going through the list of London restaurants on the Michelin's Guide that has a Bib Gourmand status and that's how I found out about this restaurant as it's founded by the same team behind Gunpowder (which also has the same status). Having tried Gunpowder before and liked the food, I had high expectations for this place.

However, I made a terrible mistake of bringing a friend who is lactose intolerant to this modern Indian restaurant that has a lot of dairy options on their menu. But their service throughout our meal was absolutely exceptional, showing us a whole table of what allergy each of their menu item ticks so we could see what my friend could actually order. Together with the manager and staff member serving us, we managed to sort my friend out with a vegan kale chaat as a starter, an okra curry as main and a vegan roti on the side.

For myself, I went for the beeh kebab as a starter, butter chicken as main and their signature lobster biryani on the side. I must say everything from start to finish was great. The beef kebab got a really nice kick to it and the meat was absolutely soft and tender and fell right off the skewer. The chaat was amazing as well, such a refreshing sauce and crunchy fried kale which we both enjoyed a lot. My friend also really liked the okra in dried curry paste and the vegan roti. The lobster biryani was definitely interesting for me as I have never had seafood in biryani but somehow it worked! I love the taste of lobster in the rice, tasted almost like a lobster bisque soup with lobster meat. The butter chicken was rich but slightly too creamy for me but together with the biryani it went down really well.

Throughout our meal, the staff checked on us attentively, especially my friend to make sure he was having a good experience despite his intolerance. The manager even offered some basmati rice for my friend since one roti wouldn't have been enough and my friend was very happy with their suggestion. Bonus points for such amazing service honestly we were very pleased! I do have to say it's definitely more on the pricey side so if you are looking for affordable Indian eats this isn't the place for that. But for the food quality and service we got, I was more than happy to pay for the meal.

Overall, we had a great time here and I would love to come back to try other things...