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

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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.

posted by Anonymous : January 28, 2008 11:53 PM

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