Masala Zone, Islington

Quick, varied, and value for money. 

The menu is different to that of any Indian restaurant I have visted previously, which was a refreshing change.  The waiter explained to me that thalis are their main focus, although they do offer a selection of street food, regular curries, grills, and noodle dishes.

I decided to try a regular vegetarian thali with paneer masala curry, this came with poppadoms with dips, saffron rice with peas and sweetcorn, dal, spiced potatoes, and squash in a tomato sauce.  I enjoyed having the selection of dishes and would especially recommend the dal.  However, there was too much food for one person really, it was lucky that my sister had only ordered a lamb korma curry and she was happy to sample some of my other dishes.

The lassis are delicious, we tried both strawberry and mango, and found they were the perfect way to cool a spicy mouth; they were rather filling though.

The overall restaurant was visually pleasing, with colourful mural covered walls, and large glass windows.  The seats were not particularly comfortable as they had very low backs and tables of two are only allowed to sit on the wooden rather than cushioned chairs.  The middle tables are too close to the outer circle of tables, there are dividers, but these only come up to table height, so you do feel like you are sitting with the people at the table next to you.

The restaurant was busy even on a Wednesday before 7pm.  I wouldn't rave about the place, but it does seem to be popular and I'm glad to have tried it.