The highlight Zone
Namita Panjabi believes that she is on to a winner. She intends that every major town in the country will soon have a Masala Zone. Forget your stereotypical, flock-wallpapered local Indian restaurant, Masala Zone brings the curry house into the 21st century.
The new restaurant, just off London's Carnaby Street, manages to enlighten the diner about Indian food culture with its "small plates of street food". The waiters are well versed in the dishes' origins and entertain diners with tales about the Masala Zone chef whose parents still run a street stall in Lucknow.
Panjabi, of course, knows a thing or two about Indian restaurants. She owns two of London's best - the smart Veeraswamy in Regent Street and the even smarter Chutney Mary in Chelsea. Masala Zone is her idea of an Indian-style café - "the result of a passion to present the real flavours of India at very, very affordable prices," she says. She's not kidding - you can leave with a full belly and be only £10 lighter.
Masala Zone also pays homage to hip India. The music of lounge-sounds supremo Nitin Sawhney slides from the speakers, and the interiors, designed by Malaysia-based Canadian Jeffrey Wilkes, combine tribal Indian art with sleek, industrial chic. Walls are covered in mud-coloured, adobe-style plaster, decorated by two Indian village artists who came to London especially.
There are communal "club" tables alongside banquettes, tables for two and counter-seating facing the open kitchen for solo diners, adding up to 160 seats in all. There are no reservations, and it's smoke-free.
The kitchen is presided over by former Chutney Mary executive chef HS Bhatty, supported by "a team of regional specialists", including vegetarian chefs from Gujarat whose religious convictions have required a separate kitchen exclusively for them.
One large griddle is used for the street food and another for the chapattis. The former presents the most exciting portion of Masala Zone's menu, with dishes ranging from bhel, a crunchy salad with chutneys and peanuts (£2.50) - "When you're sitting in a car in India, you buy this from a street vendor, wrapped in a cone of newspaper," explains assistant manager Prashant Issar - to pomegranate seed-sprinkled dahi puri, which is puffed hollow biscuits filled with chickpeas, mash with yogurt, and chutneys (£2.50). "You must put these in your mouth whole, then let them explode," says Issar. "The yogurt is very cooling - great in hot weather."
There's the odd bit of Indian fusion cooking, too, in the "Noodle Bowls" - the Malabar Seafood Bowl (£6) is a one-pot meal with prawns, calamari, fish kofta and flat noodles in a richly curried soup.
The most popular dishes since the venue's opening two months ago include the street-style food and the thalis - a complete meal served on one big platter. There's the Grand (from £7.50 to £9), with six choices from vegetarian to lamb; the Regular (£6); and the diabetic-friendly Ayurvedic (£7).
A selection from Masala Zone's menu
Aloo tikki chaat (spiced mash cake with yogurt and chutney), £2.50
Chana dabalroti (tangy chickpea curry, lotus root with hunks of bread stirred into it), £2.50
Sev puri (wholewheat biscuits piled with spicy mash and drizzled with three fresh chutneys), £2.50
Cochin coconut bowl (chicken and flat noodles cooked in white coconut soup, flavoured with curry leaves, ginger and cardamom), £5
Undihyo and lentil khichdi (sweet potato, raw banana, baby aubergine, snow peas, purple yam, val dal cooked with greens), £5
Vegetable kofta curry with pumpkin and spinach dumplings, £4.75
Srikhand with fresh fruit, £2.50
Caramelised carrot with vanilla ice-cream, £2.50
Masala Zone, 9 Marshall Street, London W1F 7ER. Tel: 020 7287 9966
