Merton
Sai

Sai

193 WORPLE ROAD, SW20 8RE, Merton, United Kingdom

Meat • Asian • Lunch • Indian


"SeriousIy really raised hopes to see a Punjabi restaurant within a 5 mile drive from my home. There was I thinking “no more epic journeys to Southall”….. some of our local Bangladeshi restaurants make a pretty decent effort to produce north Indian type dishes, but you can’t beat the real thing. A true Punjabi restaurant as you might find in a city like Chandigarh would give meat eaters and vegetarians equal preference – not just in choice, but also quality. The menu looked just about right when I saw it online – so, off to Raynes park we went. The gold standard for Punjabi vegetarian dishes would include Paneer Tikka/Shashlik and Dal Makhani, so I ordered both. The Dal was just odd…none of the tang, sweetness and colour of tomato, none of the zing of ginger and watery texture with little of the required buttery luxury that should come from the all night cooking…dare I say that I’ve tasted better Dal Makhani that’s come from a tin? The Paneer Tikka on the other hand was a total disgrace. A few thin slices of what looked like shop-bought paneer dyed a pinky/purple colour there was none of the beautiful texture of the bricks of homemade paneer that you’ll get in a good Southall restaurant (let alone the Punjab itself) none of the exhilarating aroma of the yoghurt based and spiced marinade. This was a dismal excuse for a Paneer Tikka…any self-respecting Punjabi would have sent it back! As we left, scratching our heads, I wondered if the chefs in Sai were actually Punjabis – the all important vegetarian fare was not good enough. Some Bengali places do it better."

Motspur Tandoori

Motspur Tandoori

365 West Barnes Lane, KT3 6JF, Merton, United Kingdom

Asian • Balti • Lunch • Indian


"There’s a lot of curry houses that could learn a lot from this place good and bad, let me give you the positives firstly This is an excellent curry house with an array of good dishes from massala to dopiaz and all there’s specialty dishes this isn’t just a two to three good dishes restaurant there plenty of good choice this place is one of the best around and I’ll tell you why The chutneys are fresh plenty of onion mango mint sauce lime pickle all delicious all in china bowls the popadoms crisp and flavoursome The portion sizes are good and this place has fine decor a nice plush restaurant Now the negatives The food doesn’t always come out piping hot there’s no hot trays to keep the dishes warm ,tonight i asked for a pint of lager and he gave me a large bottle of kingfisher which obviously costs more , my partner had a house white wine excellent , This restaurant is very Rarely busy like it should be and why is this ? because quite simply it’s quite expensive this tandoori should be in wimbledon village if it was it would be the no 1 there I hate greed and this place comes across as that I really don’t mind paying the extra for good curry but you just feel money more important to this place than customer hospitality, cold and cynical we have your money now go !! There’s a cheaper takeaway opposite and this must effect there trade and they should try to compete with takeaway discount with the right marketing this place could rule the roost, say midweek banquet say £14-95 They do a fabulous Sunday buffet , but it’s all day long and it becomes tired and they charge you extra for popadoms and again with less greed better marketing this could be packed out . so lets sum it up great food great prices if your not worried about your pocket then come here To the management you have a great chef but you need better customer relations , better ideas better marketing the food needs to be hot when it arrives at your table and needs to be kept warm !! a midweek banquet a bit of value for money then you will flourish , top prices you need top service friendliness and warmth , there’s an unwelcoming feel to this place A basic meal for two with 1 drink each no coffees will be £50 that’s sharing a rice naan bread side dish two mains etc The curry is excellent!!"