Londonist asks that most pressing of daily concerns: where to go on your lunch break.
Indali Lounge
50 Baker Street, W1U 7BT
020 7224 2232
12pm-3pm and 6pm-11.30pm Mon-Sat, 12pm-3pm Sun
Expect to Pay: about £6 for starters, £8 for mains
Upmarket burgers and downmarket burgers. Cheap pizza and bounteous tapas. Last month’s lunching has Londonist longing to lounge and eager for some healthy eats (especially considering the inescapable festive season’s soon to be in full swing)! So, when coming across an Evening Standard article about Indali Lounge, the so-called “healthiest curry house in world,” opening on Baker Street, we thought that’s one for us!Yep, Kartar Lalvani, an Indian born gazillionaire and the founder of Britain's first specialist vitamin supplement company, recently launched London’s first butter and cream-free curry restaurant. That’s right: curry without the ghee (only sunflower and olive oils) and naans blended with flours of alpine whole grain barley oats and wheat – completely free of bleached starch.
So, is it any good? Yeah. We really enjoyed our lunch at this glammed up curry house. The Goa – Prawns Masala (grilled prawns marinated with ginger, coconut, coriander, basil and garlic) was a particularly savoury starter with its subtle heat lingering after each bite. Our other starter, Bokhara Chicken Sheesh Kebab (grilled chicken mince sheesh kebabs with fresh coriander, ginger and onion), was good too – but nothing spectacular. For our mains, we tried the Shahi Mutter Paneer (soft paneer and peas slow cooked in yoghurt, ground cashews and saffron… without butter and cream) and Bhindi Masala Indali (fricassee of okra cooked with tomatoes, ginger, garlic and a touch of olive oil. Our paneer dish was wiped clean but still had us wondering if butter and cream are really all that bad. As for the okra, well, we’ll be sure to order than one again should an opportunity for another visit presents itself.
Indali Lounge: a good one to keep in mind, a swanky spot for a date or special occasion and a healthy alternative to so much of London’s been-there-done-that curry scene.
For more reviews of Indali Lounge, as well as thousands of other London restaurants, take a look at Qype.co.uk.
