I had the good fortune to visit a South Indian restaurant called Kerala,
near Oxford Circus, last night. Located in an unlikely place for an original
restaurant it was a real surprise.
I’m a big curry fan, and Kerala is certainly a treat. The menu is nothing
like the majority of Indian restaurants (read ‘Curry Houses’) you find;
there were a couple of the ‘standard’ dishes (a biryani, something
korma-looking) but otherwise it was generally a lot more authentic and based
(I was told) on Keralan cuisine. My choice was a dosa to start with and a
mutton curry main course. Both were very good indeed, and the meat was much
more tender than any of the lamb I’ve had down Brick Lane. I tried a few of
the other dishes and the roast duck was particularly good.
The drinks list was fairly standard, except instead of “Kingfisher” or
“Cobra” the Indian beer was “Adi adi”. I’d never heard of it, and it had an
interesting taste with floral overtones. Very unusual for a lager.
The service was good throughout, although I’m convinced the waiter will
have aching cheek muscles at the end of each night from so much grinning.
Prices were above the usual curry house, but the quality matched it and it
was still a reasonably cheap meal at around £15 a head
I would absolutely recommend Kerala. It’s a great find, and to find such
good quality in the centre of London is absolutely fantastic. The menu is
very broad and would be excellent for vegetarians, as well as having a wide
range of fish dishes.
Kerala Restaurant, 15 Great Castle Street, London, W1W 8LT. Nearest tube
Oxford Circus
Review of Kerala on London-eating
Review of Kerala at
Curry House Reviews
Having read a good review and after friends from outside of London we were looking forward to a good evening and good good at Kerala restaurant.At first the waiting staff seemed friendly, took our coats and orders, we sipped our drinks and waited for our food to arrive. We were initially suprised by the price of £1.50 per poppadom. When the poppadom arrived, we recieved half a poppadom per portion. We asked the waiter where the rest were. He explained this was the portion size. The manager also explained this was normal and he had been in the buisness 15 years. The customer service we recieved was rude and nothing was done to try and please us as customers. We left after our first course and would never return to this restaurant again.