Curry Leaf East

I live in New York now so any curry house in England is going to be great as far as I’m concerned — they really havent embraced Indian food over there.
Usually I get my fix on Brick Lane whenever I am back in London but this time my friend suggested Curry Leaf East. While not as busy as the Brick Lane establishments the layout and décor were great. After the delicious popadoms with mango chutney we split a shared starter including lamb kebabs, fish cakes and onion bhaji’s which were good.
I then shared a mint korma and a lamb rogan josh — the latter is one of the best curry’s I have ever had; the meat was tender and the sauce not too spicy so as to overpower the dish. I mopped up all the sauce with some garlic naan and happily got my curry fix for the next few months.
I am dropping a star for the service which was slow, unfriendly and amateur

Enjoyed the most delicious meal here 17.12.14. Food is absolutely excellent. Staff are second none in the service they provide. Despite the fact it was pre-​Christmas and they were exceptionally busy, they managed to fit my partner and I in with just a very short wait but we were offered a complimentary drink which was much appreciated. Our meal was so worth waiting for and we both enjoyed it immensely. Top marks to all the staff for giving us a top meal and a top night. I would not hesitate to recommend The Curry Leaf East to anyone.

Very tasty food. Nice and clean interiors. Excellent service. But expensive, and they add «opt. 12.5% service» at the end.

Did I say? They are expensive!
So I went there with my colleagues. They serve drinks. But the manager said they had Kingfisher. My manager ordered it. We expected it to be brewed in the UK. But the manager there, claimed it was imported from India. We really don’t want the Indian brewed Kingfisher for obvious reason. It is notorious for its harmful additives. And the bottle clearly stated brewed in the UK. We were kind of puzzled. But we forgave him and didn’t argue about its country of origin.
We literally had a feast. Several types of dishes. I had just some grilled chicken. Others had lamb and rice, a biriyani, etc. They serve really good Kheema Naan.
It was good and filling but I really feel like it was overpriced. You could probably get the same thing for a bit cheaper in East London. But yea, I am not being evil by judging them because of the price. London being a city of classy people (or rather class conscious people), I’ll leave it to you to decide if it is expensive or not. For me, it was expensive. They charged us for the chutneys that came with the poppadams. Most Indian restaurants serve chutneys as a complementary dish on your table. Like you go to Nandos and you get as much piri piri sauce as you like. But here you are charged per sauce selection. We weren’t aware of all these until we got the bill.
And above all that we were asked to pay a 12.5% optional service charge. It was just normal service, they came with plates and placed it on our table. They never served the dishes for us. But this labelled optional charge was actually mandatory as they never gave us an option to not pay it.
Maybe businesses are just getting a little greedy these days or maybe I just value what I earn.
If prices were a little more reasonable I would have given them a 4. By reasonable I mean, if they charged according to the quantity they served. I’m giving a 3 because I felt it was a bit overpriced. Food was good.

For a London curry joint I thought this was just OK. The pompodoms were tasty and the starters were okay but when I ordered the Chicken Tikka Malasa and asked that it be a bit more spicy I expected the spiciness to be added to the sauce in a more, I don’t know, less visible way? Instead I got a plate of curry with sliced Jalapeños on top, not exactly what I was expecting.

Having worked in the city for 8 (long) years, I had the ‘opportunity’ of visiting many restaurants. More often than not, disappointment was met with irritation at the price of the food, quality of the service and overall experience.
That was, until a few years ago Curry Leaf East opened! WHAT A PLEASANT SURPRISE. OK, so it’s not as cheap as your average indian restaurant in Lewisham, but the food definitely makes up for any issues you have with the money. The food is the nicest indian food I have ever tasted, and having been recommended to me by an indian friend, I knew I was in for something special.
On top of that the waiters make you feel like you’re special, and they have excotic juices on the menu.
Don’t take my word for it — GO! :)