Monkey Temple — Restaurant in London

This is a new review comment in light of the feedback you left:

I had no complaints about the chicken curry, but your lamb and prawn curries were appalling. Mainly sauce. About four tiny stringy bits of lamb and a few overcooked prawns - not king prawns, shrimp. Whoever was working that night could not be bothered to cook as it was coming up to 9 and so dished up the dregs of what was left rather than cooking up a fresh batch. You need to tell whoever the chef is or the kitchen staff was on shift that they put your reputation on the line by not doing their job and blatantly trying to rip us off because we were Uber Eats customers - I trust you would have given proper portions if we dined in.

We paid 60 quid for sauce, naan and poppadoms and had no leftovers for the next day. If you care about your business as I believe you do, you need to have a firm conversation with whoever was working that night, instead of implying that we are in the wrong - you might have thought we were given generous helpings but I assure you that was not the case. I'm not going to give a one star review for no reason, I'm not even looking for a refund. I'm just annoyed that you ripped us off. Have a word with your staff on shift rather than blaming a paying customer for rightly being disappointed!

Original review:

High expectations due to reviews but my housemate had it on Uber and it was so disappointing. Curry flavours were beautiful buta very small amount of meat in any of them. Lamb curry was basically a lamb sauce. Four tiny stringy bits of lamb. Prawn has a few mushy overcooked pieces. Chicken was marginally better but still mainly sauce.

Naan was fine but soooo disappointed in the rest.

Don't go here if...

The chef is an artist. We ordered three starters.

Chicken Chilli Monkey Momo, Sticky Mango King Prawn and Steamed lamb momo.

The chicken chilli monkey momo had a nice smoky edge to it and paired really nicely with the no crunch peppers in the sauce.

The sticky Mango king prawn was the most wonderful surprise. We had ordered it alongside the chilli monkey momo for some balance of sweet and spice. Expecting it to be mostly sweet. We weren't ready for how incredibly balanced a dish it was in its own right. It came with the slimmest slithers of ginger to pair perfectly with a bite of king prawn and a slither of garlic. Achieving complete harmony. True flavour mastery.

And finally. The steamed lamb Momo came with a tomato and fenugreek sauce. Light and fresh! With raw bell pepper shavings for added texture and contrast. A staple that's been done so well is something so vital and I'm glad we had this range where the chef could show that talent. Every item on every dish is placed there meticulously and with great care. You can really taste the respect and commitment to fresh, seasonal and quality produce in every bite.

For our main we ordered a king prawn biryani and honestly. It was just oar for the course. Quality quality quality. Came with a bowl of biryani sauce which comprised of a thick sauce with slow cooked veg. Will definitely be back.

Shout out to Anish who served us with humour, patience, grace and a smile. The service was highly attentive and made sure everything went super smoothly while keeping a non intrusive watchful eye from a distance. Timing everything to...

2 points to present about Monkey Temple.

I lived in the area for a good 4 years before visiting the restaurant, Indian isn’t my preferred takeaway. My girlfriend wanted to try it, & so we turned up one Friday with some beers as I remember seeing it was BYOB... this was a perception that was very old when the restaurant was without a license, to which we were wrong & possibly perceived as rude in bringing our own drinks. The staff, were understanding of our mistaken, took it in there stride, & even allowed me to drink a bottle or two as a one-off. This demonstrates they’re hospitality & politenes.

Secondly and most importantly, the food. It’s proudly boasts of awards for being one of the best Indian restaurants in the city, & being a rank-amateur with the cuisine, I can’t attest to other comparisons. What I can speak of is my taste buds, which were dressed in a flavour fashion show! At its root, you can tell the restaurant is VERY proud & confident in they’re kitchens creations, & for darned good reason. The food is delicious, everything cooked fresh, & it’s easy to tell that the meals are prepared with expert hands, fuelled by a real love for the food they make, because it tastes that way!

In the year or so since our first visit, & especially during lock-down, we’ve ordered with Monkey Temple many many times, with each meal being a real lockdown treat! Very happy to give them continued patronage & slightly embarrassed in not given them a public review sooner! If you’re local, give them a try, you’ll be a repeat...