Masala Zone Piccadilly: A Flavourful Review of London’s Indian Cuisine Gem

My closest friend — doggedly loyal, impeccably dressed and Welsh — nonetheless has eye rolling down to a fine art. He rolls his eyes at my preferred holiday destination (Frinton-on-Sea every year for the past 20 years), his retina twitches at my favourite films, and he cannot abide my love of Cliff Richard. Yet we reached unprecedented levels of irritation in October when I suggested “another Indian” for dinner.

Masala Zone Piccadilly

Incidentally, Christopher adores food from the subcontinent; he just doesn’t need it every day. But my passion for the rich flavours and enticing aromatics that fill Indian kitchens is unlimited. I have yet to discover a culinary tradition that gladdens the heart and nourishes the soul quite like piping hot butter chicken and creamy raita. Besides, I was paying the bill. When I reminded him of that, his optics returned to their central position from the farthest reaches of his eyebrows. Harmony was restored.

Afterwards, he admitted that dining at Masala Zone was an inspired choice. Indeed, this is no ordinary Indian restaurant: it occupies a grandiose position in the Criterion, a splendidly ornate dining room built by the architect Thomas Verity for the Spiers and Pond partnership. First opened in 1873, it is a Grade II listed building that lives and breathes its fascinating past. For one thing, it makes an appearance in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s inaugural Sherlock Holmes novel, A Study in Scarlet. For another, its neo-Byzantine opulence hosted numerous suffragettes during their struggle for women’s rights in the early 20th century.

Masala Zone Piccadilly

I could go on. But we’re here to talk about the latest incarnation — a rather brilliant ‘curry house’ run by MW Eat, which also owns Chutney Mary, Amaya and Veeraswamy. There are three other branches of Masala Zone in London, but this is by far the most impressive in terms of food and décor. Witness the gold and marble walls, latticed screens between dining booths and exquisite pieces of original artwork. It’s all designed to cocoon you in decadent luxury, and it works!

“The food isn’t bad either,” says the master of understatement opposite me. He smiles, admits the conceit, and agrees that we’ve dined like maharajahs for a very fair price. Yes, in Piccadilly, you can still find starters for less than £10 and mains that hover around the mid-teens. The evidence is irresistibly positioned on plates, soon to disappear into my rapacious mouth. It consists of Chettinad fishcakes, lamb sliders and two very Instagrammable onion flower bhajis. Except that I’ve never seen a bhaji so skilfully divided into individual segments, ready for you to dip into the array of chutneys served alongside. Lamb sliders are no less delicious, while my Chettinad fishcake is as it should be: oodles of fish and a judicious amount of fried potato to cushion the palate. It’s all lip-smackingly good.

Masala Zone Piccadilly food

Then we have butter chicken, fish curry and a mountain of pilau rice — whenever I attempt to boil rice, it always seems to end up looking like a congealed tennis ball. Of course, the team at Masala Zone in Piccadilly are professionals, and so the rice is perfectly cooked and delightfully fluffy. Next time, I’ll ask them for some tips. Yet I could never hope to replicate meltingly soft pieces of chicken encased in a rich sauce of tomato, cream and fenugreek. The lightly vinegared, piquant and tomato-based Bihari fish curry adds zip and zing to our day, devoured in tandem with sweet pieces of peshwari naan.

I must confess to appalling gluttony — we’re far too full for dessert. However, a ginger Old Fashioned slips down a treat, as does glass after glass of Kiwi Sauvignon Blanc. I’m so happy with the experience, so elated, that I fail to notice my companion’s Cheshire Cat smile. Thus, I suspect his eye-rolling days may be over. Masala Zone has seen to that.

What: Masala Zone Piccadilly Circus
Where: 224 Piccadilly, St. James’s, London W1J 9HP
Web: masalazone.com

James Lawrence
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