New Tayyabs, 83-89 Fieldgate Street, London E1 1JU

Allo meat (by meat, they mean lamb ...)

And 'allo to you too! 'ilarious.

A research shows (i.e. Google) that this is the best curry place in London. For those of you who have been to Brick Lane in London, it might be somewhat a surprise to you. After all, every restaurants there has a banner outside saying:

Best curry restaurant - London

All of awards were in 2007 too. Uh huh.

I've been to New Tayyab's about 3 times now, enough times to officially confirm that they are the best curry restaurant in London (2008). This is the perfect place for those of you wanting to improve the art of queuing. The queue is about 40 minutes long, you'll love it.

Once you're inside the restaurant, you're ushered to a corner where you'll stand comfortably with 20 other people or so, looking over another table's order of the day. You'll get to sniff what they're having, you'll get to duck as the trays come out, and you'll also (if you're very lucky) get to stand outside the toilet (the queue is so long that there isn't enough space in the restaurant).

Actually, all that aside, it's one of the most comfortable waits for seats in restaurants. I've been to many restaurants where the wait is outside in the cold, no lovely whiffs of food, nothing.

Here, they actually allow you to wait inside, and are never rude even when they have to manouver around you.

Once seated, the menu is promptly brought to you (probably a good thing seeing as there are about another 100 people coming in to wait the moment you sit down).

Like all good menus, New Tayyab's menu is small (about 2 pages long), descriptive (i.e. allo = potato) and laminated.

We ordered:

Lamb karahi with potato
Lamb karahi
Chicken tikka masala (OK OK I know it's not that authentic but it was delicious)

Fish karahi
Sag allo (spinach and potato)

Garlic naan
Pilau rice

Mango lassi

The time between the ordering of the food and the food coming was about 15 mins (not that long considering all the ducking and manouvering the waiters have to do to actually get to and from the tables).

The sag allo was delicous, each mouthful of the green goopy spinach was just so ... green and lovely.


The lamb karahi was tender and mucho flavourful. I don't know how they make the lamb so soft (probably not by 24 hour slow cook - refer to second post if you're lost).

Each piece of lamb was marinated so well that even without the sauce, it had its own flavour to it. The sauce was a fabulous blend of the spices (of what, I don't know, but that's why this is a review, not a recipe) and it was just spicy enough without being like 'whoooosh and here we go'.

Recommend this restaurant? Most definitely.
Great service? I would say so.
Fabulous taste? Oh I should have had more.
Love queuing? This is the place for you.

If you like curry, come here. Total bill for 4 was about £48 (quite reasonable for town).