Shah Tandoori — Restaurant in London

First of all the food is alright. Not bad, but also nothing special. It wasn't spicy or had an awesome taste where you could get a glimpse of the great spices of india. This restaurant is very "european" if you get what I mean. We expected more from indian food in London. In Vienna the restaurants are not far worse. The Service was friendly, but that was it.

Now let me tell you what I have to criticise: I think it is very harsh to demand a 10% service-fee when you don't get offered anything tbh. But topping that we got scammed as we had to pay 15% of what we ordered and not 10%. Sadly I only realized that after I left, since we were in a hurry. So we got scammed there in the first place (maybe because we are tourists?)

Secondly we got asked if we would like to have some Papadum, but weren't told that we have to pay it seperately. As we already had to pay 10% officially we thought that this would at least be included in the Service Charge, (Like it is in Italy with the Coperto. There you get an unlimited amount of bread and Grissini), but no. We had to pay an extra ammount of ~ £6.

In conclussion we got scammed by the staff, I think because like I mentioned before we are tourists, and had to pay an amount of 18,5£ (including Papadum) instead of the 10 % Service Charge.

All in all I can't recommend this restaurant unless you want to get scammed. I'm sure, there are a lot better options if you want to experience authentic indian...

Shah Tandoori is one of many Indian restaurants along Drummond Street but one of a few that aren't vegetarian only.

This place came recommended byba colleague who said it was authentic and 'similar to home cooked standard' which I took as high praise.

I was not disappointed! The Tandoori sharing platter makes forba great sharing starter for 2-3 people and was well flavoured and cooked well.

The chicken korma was smooth, creamy and full of flavour with the chicken still moist and not overcooked. The Lamb Rogon was also similarly punchy in flavour with succulent pieces of lamb. We ordered Sag Aloo which was possibly the only slight down side in that it was a bit too salty and had little potato.

The naan bread was phenomenal though. We ordered garlic and peshwari naan, the garlic was strongly flavoured and the peshwari filled with coconut and with more sprinkled on top. I have been to other restaurants where the naan is usually plain with some sort of 'topping' to make it a garlic or peshwari naan however this was different. The garlic butter was infused into the naan and the amount of coconut in the peshwari was a joy to behold.

Service was polite, kind and very welcoming with the staff happy for you to enjoy your meal without feeling rushed.

One slight downer is that it does get very busy (rightly so, it is a great place) and as a result you can be quite cramped to accommodate all the diners. You forget about that once the food...

Shah shah shah... where to even start?

We found this place off Google Maps - it had a really good average and the last bunch of reviews spoke well of it. Took the short walk from the hotel to the restaurant and when we got there we noticed that there was only two people in there eating dinner. Hm. Reviews were good so maybe we just hit an off time. In we went and got greeted with one of the most genuine restaurant smiles I've ever seen - Raj.

Raj and his colleagues were second to none. Really friendly, sociable and knowledge about what they were serving. I for example got convinced to try one of their specialities: Goan Lamb Shank

How was it?

It was A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. So much flavor mixed with really tender lamb made this, hands down, the best Indian food I've had in my life. I mean, I really love me a good Chicken Tikka Butter Masala and the likes, but this was just next level. Highly recommend! The naan bread was really great as well - puffy yet crispy with a fresh scent and taste of roasted garlic and koriander.

By the time we were leaving the headcount had tripled to six NEW patrons (not counting ourselves), and each of them got to experience that hearty warmth after stepping in.

I'll...