The meal at Zeera turned out to be a great night out. The raiding party consisted of me, a bignoseduglyguy; SWMBO, my long-suffering wife; Herr Doctor, a marathon-running medico friend and The Deputy Head, his teacher wife. Herr Doctor knows the owners and this proved to be a valuable source of insider knowledge.
A point of interest for those with an ecological or architectural bent is that this restaurant is situated underneath the 'green bridge' which spans the always busy Mile End Road. This bridge is covered with grass and trees to link two sections of the long linear park that bounds the road on its northern and southern edges. A picture of and from the bridge respectively can be found here
and here.
The decor and layout of the restaurant are very contemporary, with a very high suspended wooden ceiling, panelled walls with the odd metre square photograph of various aspects post-war Indian life from the owner's own albums. The menu is not as overwhelming as some and provides a good variety of old staples and newer variations to choose from. When we arrived, it looked to be a slow night for a Saturday but, thanks to a recent glowing review on London Weekend TV, it soon filled to capapcity.
From the starters, Herr Doctor chose Murg Chat which was a mild but flavoursome combination of julienned chicken breast on a bed of onions, peppers, beetroots and tomatoes, derssed with lemon and coriander. SWMBO plumped for the Tulsi Lentil-ka-Shorba soup, which was reported back as a thick, hot, yummy soup positively bursting with coriander. The ever-slender Deputy Head, who runs dance classes as well as teaching full time and mothering six kids, ordered the Zeera treat mixed grill option comprising of murgh tikka, tandoori lamb chop, lamb boti and salmon tikka - all of which were tender, full flavoured but never overpowering. I had the marvellously named Jalpani Pani Pat, perfectly cooked jumbo prawns that had been marinated, according to the menu, in 'herbs and tumeric'. Despite gushing praise, the wily owner wouldn't divulge any more details, thereby confidently securing a return visit from me to try and work it out.
I followed this with Khadi Gosht, a hot peppery lamb (on and off the bone, interestingly) stew made to a Central Indian recipe based around coriander seeds and chillis. This was not as exciting as I had hoped but the large portion was by no means a dud and I enjoyed every mouthful. To my right, SWMBO tucked into a Zafarani Shashilik, which she claimed was amongst the tenderest chicken she had eaten in recent years. At this point, Herr Doctor piped up saying that, amongst his many medical commitments, he sits on the local EH panel. Apparently, two of their number declare Zeera to be one of the few restaurants on their East London patch that they will eat in with no demur. Furthermore, impressed by the tenderness of the chuck, they too had pressed for details on marinating but had been denied also! Herr Doctor's Zafarani Tikka proved to be far from the usual work-a-day tikkas elsewhere locally and was rich in flavour as well as tender, nicely charred in places but never too much. His wife The Deputy Head joined me in choosing lamb but favouring the medium heat Kashmiri-spiced Rogan-e-Nizam, which she pronounced emminently eatable.
All these were accompanied by pulao rices, one flavoured with fresh lemon the other roasted cumin seeds, a delicious dal of black lentils (Punjab-di-Dal) and a medium hot mixed vegetable dish called Millijuli Shobji. With marathon runners and drivers in the party, we shared a very fresh and fruity Chenin Blanc to drink and, whilst a tad expensive, this was just the ticket alongside all the heat and spice, though the lack of a cooler (and me forgetting to ask for one) saw it go off a little as it warmed. Nice menu touches were an accurate coloured chili icon heat guide and symbols to warn of the level of nut content. This is no 'every Friday night' local curry house (not on my salary anyway) and the prices reflect that, though with the bill topping out at £100 for four including drinks and tips, it was by no means out of step with the food and service we received.
Posted by bignoseduglyguy at March 9, 2003 12:05 PM