Restaurant Review: Bangalore (Bank)

A dimly lit Bangladeshi restaurant in a little nook of London’s financial centre, blink and you’ll miss Bangalore. However, this would be to your peril, because boasting some delicious dishes at very reasonable prices (particularly if you book in advance using a meal card), it is one of the finds. (Although, in an area that features nothing but investment banks, perhaps that is damning the restaurant with faint praise).

There is a very diverse range of potential starters, and the portion sizes are so generous that two starters + a side could easily constitute a filling meal for a customer. I had the chicken tikka, and it was much better than the centrepiece meal that I’ve had at various Indian restaurants. Poppadoms were offered as soon as you entered, and, I must say I was delighted with the three choices of dips that accompanied the poppadoms. One was radish, which as an ingredient itself I am pretty uncertain about, but the way it had been prepared and sorted meant that it tasted AMAZING with the Poppadom. One of the other dips was mango chutney, but unlike the store-bought mango chutney that you get with your Indian takeaway, this chutney mix tasted homemade. Again, a sensation.

If I were to quibble with any aspect of the menu, it would be that certain dishes were too spicy. The spicy chips, when I began eating them, were fresh-tasting and wonderful, but by the time you put the fifth chip in your mouth, you realised that a jug of milk was required to stop yourself from crying. On the upside, the quality and taste of the chips (bar the unbearable spiciness) were top notch, and, at just over three pounds for a sizeable dish, you definitely couldn’t complain that you weren’t getting value for your money. This same vein of thought carried through to the Indo-Chinese fish and noodles. The fish was exquisite and the noodles themselves were great. There was just one stipulation: you could only eat a tiny spoonful at a time, lest your tongue get burnt off.

If, however, you actually use your brain unlike I did and refrain from ordering everything hot on the menu (spicy dishes are distinctly named so it should be fairly easy to evade them), then you’re in for a treat at Bangalore. The starters, main meals and sides are all lovingly crafted, very well presented and amount to a thoroughly satisfying culinary experience.

Grade: B+/A-