Masakali

I visited Masakali with my girlfriend on a quiet summer Tuesday, a spur-of-the-moment decision to catch up on some celebrating. Our original destination was actually a different restaurant a few doors down, but it turned out to be shut when we arrived. After a quick glance at the Google ratings in the vicinity, Masakali seemed like a good choice, boasting 4.5 stars from 763 reviews (at time of writing), which was good enough in my books. One thing that stood out straight away as we approached was the strapline: "Indian Fine Dining + Cocktails". Fine dining wasn't the sort of place we had in mind for the evening, but after a quick look through the window it didn't look like the sort of place that required a dinner jacket, so I decided to give it a go in my jean-shorts and t-shirt. To my great relief we weren't turned away at the door and were allowed to choose a seat wherever we pleased.

We sat against the back wall, giving me a view of the whole place as I dined. At this point I must admit that I'd actually sat in this exact seat before, though this was when a restaurant called Cozze occupied the building. Cozze was a decent Italian and I was quite sad to see it disappear. Having been here before, the interior layout felt quite familiar to me, though the decor was much different. I must say the change in decor does feel very haphazard and cheaply executed. The colours don't quite work together: a purple accent wall next to dark green wallpaper (if it stopped there, I wouldn't mind), contrasted with a mint ceiling and orange booth seats and mustard leather chairs. It does feel like a mish-mash of the previous tenants with the new occupants. The place is also quite vast, probably seating 70–80, which is a lot for a high street restaurant, and that doesn't help the ambiance when there are only two people dining. And on the way to the toilets, you walk down a corridor where the floor is so raised — a leak, or just a bad install, who knows — that it genuinely feels like standing on a trampoline.

Service, on the other hand, was very good. Menus arrived promptly, drink orders were taken straight after and came out almost instantly, all done with a smile — so no complaints there. That said, we were the only two guests for most of the evening, which I'm sure helped. Then again, I've been the sole diner in a place before and still somehow struggled to get a drink in, so there is that.

There were two front-of-house staff, and one interaction I overheard was the best moment of the night. Two scousers in their fifties came in around the time our papadums arrived and tried and almost failed to order chips. It took a solid minute. "You know — fries, potato sticks, french fries, chips, chips." At one point the waiter offered "Onion bhaji? Pakora?", which I found genuinely hilarious. I think he went to get help from the kitchen in the end.

On the drinks front, they had two beers on tap: Madri and Cobra. I went with the Cobra and had about three across the meal, while my partner was on gin and tonics — so we never got into the extensive cocktail menu. It just didn't feel right on a Tuesday. Can't really comment on the bar skills, then.

Since this is my first attempt at a review, I forgot to photograph the menu — but it's online. It's not your typical Indian menu. There's no korma, madras or vindaloo; instead the curries are named by region (Andhra, Kerala, Goa, Kashmir), there's a whole section of chaat and bar snacks, and a run of Indo-Chinese dishes like chilli paneer and Hakka noodles.

Naturally, we started with the papadums. Not much to report: the papadums themselves were standard, the mango chutney noticeably thicker and chunkier than usual — it tasted fine, though the big pieces made it harder to distribute onto the crisp. The mint chutney was quite bad. It looked vibrant, but there was almost nothing behind it; a proper hit of salt might have saved it.

For starters, we went with the Paneer 65 and the Gongura Spicy Wings, both around £10. I'd never had or even seen gongura used before, so I was excited to try it. The Paneer 65 was really good and a decent portion — nice crisp exterior, full of flavour, and good spice levels. The wings, however, were less impressive. First of all, the amount: I mean, chicken wings are like £3 for 2 kg at the supermarket, so the markup on this plate was insane, which was probably clouding my judgement before I'd even tasted them. They were actually cooked really well and had a nice crisp texture. The coating was OK — a bit too salty, quite spicy and very leafy, like spinach on crack. Probably wouldn't go for it again, definitely not at that price.

For mains, we ignored all the interesting stuff — plebs that we are — and went for the Hyderabadi chicken biryani, the Old Delhi butter chicken, a garlic naan and steamed rice. Not too adventurous, although the names did suggest some sort of flair, I suppose.

The butter chicken I thought was OK. My partner thought it was good, so a step up I guess. It was definitely more tomatoey and less sweet than most butter chickens — closer to what you'd usually get if you ordered a makhani, which I'm guessing is what's “Old Delhi” about it. The garlic naan was very good: nice flavour, nicely toasted, crispy, glistening; no issues. The steamed rice, which was ordered against my wishes, was indeed rice, and steamed, and there was a huge amount of it.

The biryani, though, impressed me much less. The portion was generous, but the flavour was lacking. I'm a big biryani eater and this one really failed to deliver. My typical complaint is that the rice can be too greasy — this was the first time I've ever thought one needed more fat. It was very reminiscent of the steamed rice my girlfriend had ordered. There were three chicken drumsticks, falling off the bone and clearly marinated, and they tasted OK, but again, maybe needed more salt. Overall, it just needed more spice and seasoning. It came with a big bowl of raita on the side, which I was excited about — but the raita couldn't do its palate-cleansing job properly when there was nothing to cleanse.