Summary: If you don’t fancy venturing too far east to Brick Lane, Massala Hut in the heart of London, is a delightful choice that won’t make you feel like you’ve compromised on authenticity or quality.
Having enjoyed a recent refurbishment with bright, vibrant, contemporary décor that includes glass and steel, family-run restaurant Masala Hut, refreshingly, does not play on traditional Indian restaurant interiors, instead creating a setting that is striking and allows for it to stand out.
And Massala Hut needs to stand out, for its location on Drummond Street sees it compete with 16 other Indian restaurants, making this part of town the Brick Lane of Euston.
However we must make one thing clear: Massala Hut need not rely on its gorgeous interiors to compete for your attention. The food alone will certainly make sure of that, as Chef Gordon Ramsay, a previous diner, will undoubtedly testify to.
We ordered poppadums’ to keep us going as we perused the main courses. Once we were ready to order, our friendly waiter insisted we begin with starters to get the real feel of Massala Hut’s cuisine. We couldn’t say no to that, but faced with a wide selection we requested some assistance from our cheerful waiter.
The Stuffed Peppers with potatoes, onions, cashew nuts and mint were highly recommended and surpassed both our expectations. Arriving in three, filled with a puree full of texture, along with a surprising spicy kick, the peppers shone against our garlic mushrooms – which were prepared thinly sliced, rather than whole, and making them a little bit fiddly to eat.
In a menu offering up it’s take on Indian signatures, including Rogan Josh, Madras and Jalfrezi there are some distinct dishes.
For example, the mains we enjoyed – enjoyed being the key word – were the King Prawn Jheenga Amritsari and Lamb Chana Gosht. Extremely generous portions always go down well with food writers and the Jheenga Amritsari was not only impressive in size but the prawns were tail-on, adding extra flavour to this perfectly robust and fragrant dish.
The Lamb Chana Gosht added meaty heartiness that contrasted perfectly against the seafood, in a tomato-based curry filled with chickpeas. The use of turmeric added an authentic infusion to a dish already flavoured with garlic and ginger.
Our mains were accompanied by beer – Cobra and Mongoose (a bit of a rarity in Indian restaurants!), as well as garlic naan and fluffy special fried rice, which included peas and egg. Thankfully the naan bread wasn’t overly huge which can often be the case. Its thick texture was on point and great for scooping up the lashings of sauce that came with our dishes.
Our waiter recommended a side dish and we went with his suggestion of sautéed Garden Fresh Okra, which couldn’t be faulted, adding extra texture and flavour to our main courses.
At this point we were both full up, but suggestion of dessert, following the excellent cuisine we had just devoured, certainly swayed us. With food this good, dessert had to be worth it!
For our third course we shared a ball of caramel ice-cream surrounded by vanilla ice-cream and covered in fudge pieces. While Indian restaurants are not known for their desserts, that doesn’t mean they won’t delight and this portion was delicious. Those with a sweet tooth will be kept happy.
Well-known faces expected to be dining at Massala Hut soon include David Beckham and Labour Party leader Ed Milliband and with the restaurant describing itself as “the real taste of Indian curry”, we are in no doubt that once tried, they and you will be back for more.