ZARIN, 31 BANK STREET

This restaurant was first established in the early eighties as The Curry Garden becoming Ashford's first Indian restaurant but changed its name to it's current title in September 2002. It has been totally refurbished and now presents a rather trendy restaurant in the modern style of chrome, light wood floors, colourful bubbling water feature at the back etc. The menu has also changed to offer less usual dishes, although it does retain most of the usuals under a section headed 'old favourites'. Management remains the same, although I don't know whether they have a new chef providing the new dishes. As we entered I hoped so as I was unimpressed with the food on my visit in 2001 when I reported things such as " got off to a bad start with the food as all three starters were poor... .. Shami Kebab had little taste other than that of a grilled beef burger, which it very much resembled .. Onion Bhajias were very greasy and low on the onion content.... Tandoori Chop very poor being mostly fat and gristle with a tiny circle of meat in the centre... and accompanying salads were awful (the sliced cucumber on each could have been used to sole our shoes it was so dry! They clearly make up the individual salads hours - or even days - beforehand judging by this and let them stand in the open).... the main dishes were better, although only fairly average. Chicken Pathia had a hot tang although the bite tasted rather like chilli powder rather than a more flavoursome spicy taste of a good masala.... Chicken Jalfrezi greasy with the main hotness coming from the green chillies in it rather than the sauce... side dish of Dry Mixed Vegetable was poor as it comprised very small pieces of vegetable (and none with any substance like potato) with little flavour and was extremely oily .... all in all a rather indifferent meal with the starters well below average. Not a particularly good report.

However, things were better this time so perhaps there is a new face in the kitchen. Also, it was half empty on the last visit (a Saturday night) while this time - also a Saturday night - the ninety-seater was packed and noisy.

Starters of Onion Bhaji (4 round variety), Sheek Kebab and Chicken Chat were both OK, if fairly standard - nothing special but certainly nothing to complain about - and happily the accompanying salad this time was OK (no 'boot sole' cucumber!) although minimal.

 

The main dish of the Tandoori Mixed Grill (Zarin Mixed Special) was very good with plenty of items - lamb, chicken, kebab, prawn - well marinated and flavoured. The Kathmandu Jeera Chicken (with cumin, ginger, onion and herbs) was also very pleasant in a medium hot but well flavoured reddish sauce, while the Chicken Tikka Dhansak was also up to scratch being hot, and in a well-bodied sauce containing virtually whole lentils rather than pureed. The accompanying Bombay Potato was OK, with a coating of thickish sauce but the Mixed Vegetable Bhaji was very poor, as although it contained large pieces of vegetable (as distinct from the previous visit), it was very bland and no spicing - the only real taste being a curious and not particularly pleasant underlying flavour which none of us could place. My wife thought it was that of a vegetable that was slightly off, but apart from leaving it we didn't question the matter. Perhaps we should have. Standard rice and Nan 

 

Prices higher than average, probably to reflect the modern style. Portions about average. Service a very mixed bag. Slow to take order, but probably because it was busy, and the waiter who took the order was particularly miserable looking and surly. (It's the older one with the beard in case you ever go!)  He didn't smile, avoided eye contact at all times and looked as though he couldn't care less. So much was this evident that when another, younger waiter passed we commented that he at least was smiling. From then on the younger waiter served us and was particularly friendly, as was a third who brought the bill. Perhaps they had heard us commenting on the old misery that first took our order!

 

Overall a much more enjoyable meal than last time although despite the  trendy image, a fairly standard formula curry if perhaps slightly above average. But at least it had improved significantly to get a positive report rather than a negative one!

Malcolm Wilkins - June 2003