The Famous Curry Bazaar

Had a great meal here at a really fair price. Great service as well. ¹⁰⁄₁₀ would go again!

A stroll down Brick Lane can be a bit daunting.
It’s like walking around the mall food court, where every vendor has an employee out front hounding you to sample their cheese steaks, bourbon chickens, etc.
Likewise, here we find proprietors of Indian Restaurants standing out in front of their businesses attempting to convince tourists as well as local passersby to stop in and eat their curries and masalas.
You see, in case you were unaware… Brick Lane over in East London is world renowned for their Indian cuisine.
Some dare might say that the Indian food you are getting here is better than any you would actually get IN INDIA!
So, fending off would be suitors trying to get you in their doors can be a bit aggravating, but it comes with the territory.
That said, we stepped into The Famous Curry Bazaar after one of their servers greeted us as we perused their display menu.
Like just about every other place on the strip, they had a lunch special for about ⁷⁄₈ pounds.
They’re set up like a Chili’s or Applebees 2 for $ 20 kinda menu.
A selection of appetizers, main dishes and desserts one could pick and choose from for a set price.
While I was asking the server about their options he propositioned me with this:
For 10 pounds each, choose ANY appetizer we have, ANY main dish we have AND get a beer or wine as well.
So instead of being bound to the limited prix fixe selections, we had full reign over their entire menu.
Deal!
Stepped inside, free WiFi (sweet) and a nice dining room.
Started with bread service and some sweet tamarind sauce on the side followed by a prawn purée appetizer that was very good, but a little messy.
I ordered a spicy lamb curry and the wife got a chicken tikka masala.
Both were ample and plenty for sharing.
A couple of tall glasses of Cobra Beer helped cool off any lingering heat.
Not saying this is the best place to go on Brick Lane, but from my experience it must be far from the worst.
Great deal + great service + great food = repeat customer if I didn’t live thousands of miles away.

My husband and I stopped in last night on a whim, and it was one of the blandest curries I’ve had in London. I’ve actually had better curry in Vermont (USA), which is not good at all. The sauces with the pappadoms were as expected, and the galic naan was pretty tasty (though perhaps a bit oilier than I like). My Lamb Tikka Jalferezi was just blah. Not even remotely spicy (despite being listed under hot curries), not well seasoned, and just terribly bland. I was not pleased. My husband’s Chicken Balti was better, but also very mild and not very exciting. They were also more expensive than a lot of the other restaurants on the street, which is only justifiable if they were at all better than the others. The service was also incredibly slow, even though the restaurant was pretty empty when we were there.
We were sorely disappointed and will not be returning.

The Famous Curry Bazaar is a fine place to stop in after a long day, but when I think back on it, I don’t have a memory of the food being particularly amazing. I had chicken tikka curry with plain rice and vegetable samosas, and I still feel slightly underwhelmed at the experience. If there is a better restaurant on Brick Lane, I would choose that over this place.

The Famous Curry Bazaar is a pretty solid restaurant in the heart of Brick Lane. I went with about 15 other students from Uni, and the staff managed to handle our large party (in an incredibly small restaurant) with the utmost friendliness and professionalism.
Pros: Great staff. Our waiter was super friendly. He hung out, cracked some jokes and was just all in all a great guy to be around. The food was unbelievable. Some of the best naan I’ve ever had and the dipping sauces were just out of this world.
Cons: Small, and cramped, but not oppressive, at least. It took a really long time for our entrées to come out, but then again we had a really large group, so I’m not sure if this was typical. The worst part was that I ordered a starter of vegetable samosas and when they were delivered, I bit into one and got a mouthful of beef. As a vegetarian, I was less than pleased. I can say, however, that the staff was very friendly and professional about remedying this situation.
But all in all, I would suggest the restaurant to anyone who wanted some amazing food, especially vegetable masala.

The food was alright. I was enticed in by the fact that they threw in free popadoms and also a free naan for my daughter who couldn’t handle a full meal on top of the free drinks. The waiter struggled when I asked what vegetables were in the vegetable curries and jsut repeated whatever vegetables I mentioned. The food came quickly and was very tasty, but I wouldn’t go as far as to say it was delicious. However when it came to paying the bill they were tediously slow. I would consider returning, however I think I will try a few different places in future visits to Brick Lane

I went to Curry Bazaar recently, enticed by the offers of free drinks and the fact that it was the only crowded restaurant on Brick Lane that evening. I tried my old stand-​by of «I’d like whatever is most delicious.» My waiter seemed very confused by this request, and was reticent to make recommendations. At his suggestion, we ordered the chicken rezala which, incidentally, was pretty bland and not delicious. We also ordered the lamb ureebisi (which we chose ourselves), which was spicy and pretty delicious. Overall, the food was decent but not amazing. the pressure was minimal compared to the other Brick Lane curry joints, and they gave us free beer. They’ve also got a decent selection of vegetarian dishes if you’re into that sort of thing.