Indian Zing

Indian Zing is on the busy King Street in Hammersmith, and has been operating since 2005. Its head chef and owner is Manoj Vasaikar, who used to cook at Chutney Mary before this. The menu draws on influences from across India. 

The meal began with pleasant popadoms and chutneys, these including the almost ubiquitous mango and mint chutneys. Samosa chaat with chickpeas (£7) was made with traditional pastry rather than filo, and came with a pleasant tamarind chutney and Greek yoghurt. The chickpeas were tender and there was a nice kick of spice (13/20).

Chicken jalfrezi (£14) had chicken breasts fried with onions, tomatoes, red pepper, garlic and spices. The chicken had limited flavour but the spices were pleasantly balanced (13/20). The best dish was gobi aloo mattur, which had particularly good cauliflower that had retained its texture well, along with peas and potato and a good mix of spices (14/20). Pilau rice and naan bread were fine. 

The bill was £61.59 for one person with Kingfisher lager to drink. Portions were generous and I somewhat overordered; a typical cost per person with beer to drink might be more like £45. Service was friendly. The pace of dishes was a little slow and the rice came out of sequence with the other dishes. However, this is a neighbourhood restaurant and the service overall was perfectly serviceable. This was a better meal than I recall at my previous visit to Indian Zing many years ago, and based on this visit I would happily return if in the area.

Further reviews: 05th Oct 2009