Located in Hammersmith, London, Indian Zing is one Indian restaurant you don’t want to miss. This place came highly recommended to us by an English friend, so we had to try it out! Side note, I love how most English people know the difference between good curry and bad curry. It really helps narrow down the giant list of Indian food in London! My husband and I try Indian food in London at least once a week. We just love it! But I’ll be honest, we’ve definitely tried an Indian restaurant here and there that just left us speechless…in a bad way. Indian Zing came so highly recommended that we went in feeling confident about it.
LOCATION
Hammersmith is such a lovely part of London. There’s a lot of culture here, and that helps with all the delicious international cuisine. We took the bus to get here. Indian Zing is only a two-minute walk from the Ravenscourt Park tube station, so you can take the tube if you prefer. You can use Google Maps to see how far you are from Indian Zing.
FOOD
As soon as we sat down, the server brought us complimentary soup tasters. They were delicious. So far, so good. For starters, we ordered pappadums and khakara basket. If you’re not familiar with that appetizer, it consists of rice pappadums, whole wheat crisp flat bread, and roasted urad dal with black pepper pappadums. It is served with three sauces. The first is a mint, coriander, and pomegranate seed relish. Second is a raita made of carrot, cucumber, tomatoes, and raisins. The third is a mango chutney with black peppercorn, cumin, and bay leaves. Super light and tasty! Along with that, hubster had a cobra beer, of course!
After appetizers, we decided on our mains. Hubster ordered the bhujung biryani (spiced rice) with chicken. We split the tadka dal (lentils, garlic with red chillies) and the baigan and makai bharta (smoked aubergine, onion, and corn).
Oh those curries were absolutely delightful. We did not decide on a favorite because both of them raised the bar on Indian food in London! My mother makes a very similar aubergine (eggplant) dish, so I felt right at home with that one. Yet dal is the most commonly made dish, so that was high up there as well. They complemented each other well because the aubergine dish is sweet and spicy, while the dal is a bit more tame but deep in flavor. I also ordered a paneer kulcha (Indian cottage cheese stuffed in leavened bread) to go with those two curries, since I didn’t want any of hubby’s chicken biryani—not because I have anything against rice, but because I’m a vegetarian.
The Indian food is so fresh and flavorful here! We didn’t have any space for dessert (shocking, I know), but there wasn’t even a grain of rice left on our plates.
DECOR & SERVICE
This place is definitely more “hole-in-the-wallish” than many central London restaurants. I felt a little claustrophobic in here with how many decorations were gracing the walls. The space isn’t very large, so it felt a little out of place, or should I say out of space. I liked the thick white linens on the tables and the cutlery so much though. I’m just glad we didn’t go during the absolute peak times on the weekend because I doubt I would have been comfortable in a space like that with the maximum capacity of people. Even though we went on a Thursday evening, Indian Zing was still really busy. Make sure you reserve a table before you go. You can do that here.
So tell me, are you a fan of Indian food in London? If you’re looking for a great Indian restaurant, definitely check out Indian Zing.
Cheers,
