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Monday 18 January 2010

London Restaurant Reviews - Tiffinbites


**THIS RESTAURANT HAS CLOSED DOWN**

Tiffinbites

My friend Uwe was in town for a few meetings, and as is customary, we decided to go out for a bite to eat at lunch time with a couple of other foodie friends, Eleni and Kayrul.


Tiffinbites was the natural choice as it is located very close to the bank we all work for. Another reason for going to Tiffinbites was to use my Taste London card which gives 50% off the food bill.


Being the newest branch of this chain of Indian restaurants, the decor is modern and largely in keeping with all the businesses in the area. I felt it rather cold and soulless with large glass windows, steel counters and plain tables and chairs.


 

We ordered 4 of their tiffins; each tiffin came with accompanying pilau rice and vegetables (potatoes & pea curry). Kayrul and I went for the Lamb Rogan Josh @ £9.95, while Eleni opted for the “Prawn Malay Curry” @ £9.95 and Uwe for the “Chicken Karahi” @ £8.95.


 

 

I was underwhelmed by my choice – there was not enough lamb in my tiffin and the meat was slightly gristley. The sauce was not nearly as spicy as it could have been and tasted rather bland. It had 3 chillies against this choice, so supposedly it was the hottest choice on the menu. I enjoyed the pilau rice and accompanying curried vegetables more than I did the lamb.


 

 

 

Eleni was, on the other hand, quite happy with her choice of prawn Malay curry – it tasted light and coconuty, and we both felt that the delicious sauce went very well with the prawns.


I didn’t get to taste the Karahi Chicken although Uwe seemed content with his choice.


We also ordered a “paneer naan” and a “minced lamb naan”. I struggle to find anything to say about them, passable I would imagine is a good description.


 

Another mistake I made was ordering the mango lassi @ £2.50. As explained by Kayrul, a lot of the less authentic Indian restaurants in London will use mango pulp rather than fresh mangoes when making their lassi. This tends to make for a very smooth and overly sweet drink – Tiffinbites’ version was unbearably sweet.

Despite being nearly empty, service was impersonal and surprisingly inattentive. They forgot to give us the 50% discount from our food bill, so I had to ask them to correct it from £59 to £34. At £8.50 per person, I still felt that Tiffinbites was not such good value considering the quality and quantity of food being served.


Verdict – Indian restaurant chain serving uninspiring food for cheap but not cheerful business lunches. A place to be avoided.

Tiffinbites on Urbanspoon

9 comments:

  1. Oh dear - sad their restaurant sounds so poor. I quite like their takeaway branch at Moorgate. They have a chicken pack which is pretty much just a box of meat ;)

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  2. I saw a documentary about this place on BBC2 last year - they have a central kitchen from where they ship out meals to various branches

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  3. Agreed about the Tiffinbite's inattentive service. A pal mentioned that their price used to be much dearer.

    C K

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  4. @ Meemalee - I really wanted to like this place as it is just by work and i love Indian food but it was not good. I haven't tried the place in Moorgate so cannot comment but will not be rushing there either.

    @ Mr Noodles - that wouldn't surprise me. I actually asked a mate at work and he's just confirmed that too. I wish I'd known this before I went there...

    @ London Chow - I recall reading that in your review, thanks for stopping by, I really like your blog!

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  5. Interesting - the only mini chains of sub-continental restaurants i've found that do good food are Marsala Zone, who do a decent Thali (and they're good rather than excellent) and the Rasa family of bright pink eateries. Shipping food out from a central location sounds too Little-chefy for me and can;t be a good idea.

    Maybe someone could convince Alan Yau to give the sub-continent a go?

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  6. Hi Grubworm, i totally agree with you, I quite like Masala Zone and Rasa restaurants. After the fiasco of Alan Yau's Italian restaurant a few years ago, I doubt he would venture outside his comfort zone. His newish place Cha Cha Moon has received some dreadful write ups too. Did you get my link about the ale tasting at Gunmakers? Hope to see you there.

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  7. I did get that link - thanks for whizzing it across. Am getting my diary sorted so i can go along.

    You're probably right about Alan Yau, who's the Indian/Pakistani/Afghan/Sri Lankan equivalent i wonder? There doesn't seem to be many good quality mid-range sub-continental places in London.

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  8. Very bright and airy comparable to Wagamama's with long tables set out canteen style. Some of the chaats were tiny and would be a good taster, but the dosas were enormous, tasty and very filling.

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  9. Tiffinbite ws very good ,in quality and taste. Authentic Indian food,I ever eat .
    Thanks tiffinbite you r great!

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