REVIEW: Sheba, Brick Lane

This post is really late! It's been saved in my drafts since before I went to Lisbon so apologies for that.

Today I am sharing my review on Sheba, an award winning Indian restaurant on Brick Lane. In the last year it has won the UK's Best Curry House award, which is a pretty major statement to have outside the door. Wandering up and down Brick Lane it's hard to not been caught up in the push and pull techniques of the restaurants taunts. From "Come on in darlin', we've got what you want", to "Have you eaten today" - these lads are well versed on how to get clients through the door. Luckily for me, Sheba does not have one of these diner-grabbers outside. At least they didn't when we went. In fact throughout our meal we were treated with respect and privacy, which was quite refreshing.

Now Sheba certainly isn't the fanciest place I have ever dined, but that doesn't mean the experience wasn't great. The staff were lovely, the food was great and the Indian music channel on the telly was enrapturing! We began with the classic Cobra beer, which I actually really like, and poppadoms with various dips. Crisp and crunchy, the poppadoms tasted really delicious with a mix of the riata and fresh onion salad, whilst Alex preferred the mango chutney which was hot, sweet and sour all at one - AKA perfect.

 For our starter we shared a lovely paneer dish. I find that many Indian restaurants really do vegetarian dishes so much better than meat dishes, most likely because many Indian people are vegetarian. My friend for Gujarat once told me that when visiting a new Indian restaurant you should try one fish, one chicken and one paneer dish; if all these are good then it's a winner. Anyway back to the paneer; spiced with chilli and garlic, the cubes of paneer were lightly grilled with a bouncy texture.

We also shared Zalzala bread: a special naan stuffed with cheese, chilli, garlic, light spices and minced lamb meat, apparently a real favourite at the restaurant. I felt the bread could have taken more of the mince meat but the chilli and garlic came through really well. I loved wrapping a piece of paneer inside the naan to devour. It had a really fragrant, hot and spicy finish.

 For main courses we went for the tandoori salmon and chicken masala shashlik. Both dishes were absolutely delicious and really moorish. My salmon came mildly spiced and marinated with dill, fennel, ginger, honey and mustard oil. The salmon came in manageable chunks and was well cooked, not perfect but good. The salmon was served alongside a sweet and hot sauce which actually worked really nicely with the sweetness from the salmon.

Alex's dish of chicken masala shashlik was a truly memorable dish. the meat is charred in the tandoor with peppers, onions and tomatoes and then cooked in a unique sauce giving it multiple layers of flavour. The chicken was lovely and soft and worked really brilliantly with the sauce.

 We enjoyed our mains with two side dishes; sag paneer and mishtikodu (Bengali pumpkin.  For me, sag paneer is the best Indian dish in the world and this version from Sheba did not dissapoint. Bold in its flavours with a great mix of textures, I actually asked for a portion to take home it was so yummy. The Bengali pumpkin was a really unique dish and something I have not tried before. The pumpkin was well spiced and balanced with a sweet and hot finish.

 Overall I would absolutely reccomend a visit to Sheba, especially on a fun Friday night. It's packed with local East Londoners and is a really enjoyable experience. The tables are all smushed together so grab a beer, enjoy a curry and have a great night out.

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