Thalis and curry @ Masala Zone, Earl's Court, London, UK

L: Dahi Puri; R: Papadum & Chutney

So, I've heard that British loves Indian curry and there are lots of curry houses around. Strangely, not all are authentic Indian curry. Masala Zone is a casual Indian dining chain restaurant that boasts an array of authentic Indian street food and Thalis, the cornerstone of their menu. It was a rainy day in London, so we decided to just hang out around Earl's Court, where we were staying. We passed by this restaurant a couple of times previously and were always tempted by the Indian dishes that people were eating, so we decided to try them out ourselves. Good description of each item in their menu so no worries on that. For starters, we had dahi puri which was puffy hollow biscuits filled with chick peas mash with a splash of yoghurt and chutney. It has a really refreshing taste although I did not really like how the hot item with yoghurt topping gave you a weird hot-cold sensation when eating it. More to our liking, was the side of papadum (like huge chips made with some type of flour) and chutney.

Grand Thali

Regular Thali

For mains, Panda and mum had their Thali, which is a unique authentic Indian item on their menu. This is probably the largest meal offered by them. Thalis are complete, balanced, traditional Indian home food served on stainless steel platter with a couple of side dishes The Grand Thali is actually equivalent to a starter and main course and consisted of a canapé (bite-size item), a choice of curry, two veges, salad, dal (lentil), yoghurt, papadum, a piece of chapatti (indian bread) and rice. 

Mum had the regular Thali which is basically the same as Grand Thali without some sides and chapatti. The rice served with regular Thali however was almost double the amount of rice came with Grand Thali. So for big-eaters, this regular Thali actually is quite enough. Panda and mum had nothing but good comments of the thick, flavorful chicken curry they chose. The HOT level was actually quite spicy which was just nice for spicy lovers like us.

Chicken Briyani

Since both of them had Thalis, I decided to give their Chicken Briyani a try. This delectable briyani did not look as tempting compared to the usual briyani in claypots that I have back home, but surprisingly it tasted pretty good. The portion, level of spiciness and amount of spices were just nice, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. We also had Masala milk tea, which was brewed black tea with milk and aromatic Indian spices (you've gotta love spices to drink this though). Overall, we had a nice lovely lunch at this place. We were there slightly after lunch hours so there weren't many customers around. Well-decorated, modern siting restaurant which would be perfect for meet-ups and if you're looking for good, comforting Indian food.

Address: 147, Earl's Court Road, London, UK

Website: Masala Zone

Other places in London that you might be interested with:

The proposal @ The Strand Dining Rooms
Noodles for everyone @ Wagamama, Earls Court, London, UK

Discovering the royal palace & Chinese food @ Middlesex, UK

Old-style trolley dimsum @ New World, Chinatown, London

The English Breakfast @ London

Shrimp dumplings and Laksa @ Momo Cafe, Staines, London, UK

A Pork-y affair @ Pig's Ears, London, UK

A dinner buffet @ Spicy Bite, Downtown Saskatoon

One of the better restaurants in Saskatoon with a nice ambience. Located at downtown, this place is easily spotted as it is at the corner of the building. I was generally impressed with the internal look of the place; clean, spacious and well-decorated. I met up with a couple of friends for dinner buffet. This is probably the only second time I had Indian food in Saskatoon so it was worth trying. Dinner buffet is set at $19.90 (comes with free flow of pop, chai tea); considerably cheaper than other dinner buffets (Chinese, Japanese, Asian) in town. However, I would have expected them to have more varieties of food as I thought the buffet spread (appetizers, mains, desserts) is quite limited.

Buffet spread. You've gotta love spices, curry, cheese and cream. Butter chicken, lamb, beef, peas, chick peas.

Salad, fruits, desserts and dressings. Really limited options.

Basmati rice, samosas, and dessert. Vege samosa is quite ok. Not too greasy and well-filled with potatoes.

Noteworthy items included the tandoori chicken which I thought was quite tasty and well-marinated. The vegetarian samosa was quite good (with lots of potatoes) and not too greasy. I liked most the garlic naan which was freshly made from the kitchen and not on the buffet spread. You have a choice of butter or garlic naan but just go for the garlic naan (with butter and garlic on it, I'm sure). 

My plate : Vegetable samosa, tandoori chicken, peas and chick peas with gravy, steamed rice

Freshly made Garlic Naan and Butter Naan. Garlic Naan is really good (something like an Indian version of toasted garlic bread;P)

Assortment of Indian dessert. Sweet stuff. I liked the white stuff Kheer (rice pudding) the best.

Overall, this is a good place for dinner meets or if you would like to try something different. They are basically a mixture of East Indian and Pakistani cuisines. You can have buffet or order from menu. You do need to love spices in your food though (yeap, including the desserts). Waiters are friendly but we need to request for the extra plates on the table to be removed (a lil' bit blur?).

Address : 113, 3rd Avenue South, Saskatoon, SK, S7K1L6
Opening hours : 11am-10pm daily
Website : Spicy Bite *This restaurant is HALAL. Delivery and take-out are available.