This long-running Indian restaurant, trading since 1986, but under its current owners for over a decade, has been on my list for aeons; in fact, whenever I’m stomping up Leyton High Road to Walthamstow I pause to look at the great-value set lunch menu.
I finally succumbed this week, after a 20k-steps walk down from Chingford (another story). The menu describes itself as “from the Himalayas to the Indian ocean and the Arabian sea to the Bay of Bengal.”
The lunch offer is just £9.95 for three courses (one starter/ one main/ one bread), as it advertises in the window. Although arguably really only two, it’s still great value.
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Arriving mid-afternoon, around 2.15pm, the sole employee there seemed bemused at the idea of someone dining in, until the owner appeared, and thereon it was smooth.
From the starters, my appealingly golden-edged onion bhaji was served quartered with salad, chilli sauce and raita.
The perfectly oval mound of fresh herb-topped biryani that followed (pictured below) was studded with decent chunks of tender chicken, vegetables and moreishly yellow saffron rice.
An accompanying warm, buttery garlic nan was especially good; but too many carbs for lunch, so that one came home in a paper bag with me for later.
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And the bill? Really only a tenner. This is definitely one to return to and investigate the evening menu – where main dishes hover between £12.95-£14.95. Best of all, since it’s a BYOB, there’s no corkage charge for wine, either.
Find Shish Mahal at 815 High Rd. Leyton, London E10 7AA
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