Indian Lunch Review Day 3: Biryani

Submitted by India Week on Wed 07/03/12

As part of India Week, we are trying a different Indian dish for lunch every day this week. Each day we will be eating something from the menu at Masala Zone and will be reviewing it for you. Today's dish is Biryani.

So, we enter Day Three of our attempts to try every Indian dish known to man (or at least five of them anyway), and up today is Biryani. Expectations were high after two cracking lunches on Monday and Tuesday, so the dish had a lot to live up to.

From £7.75 you get a delicious layered pilaf of chicken, rice and spices cooked in a sealed pot. Alternatively, instead of the chicken (below), you can get the vegetarian option (above), with roasted aubergines, cauliflower and potato. We of course had to try both options.

Chicken Biryani

The special way of cooking Biryanis means that it is a dry dish, so on the side you also get the mixed lentils and the yogurt of the day to go with it. Both sides were absolutely perfect for adding an extra bit of sauce with the rice, allowing you to basically choose the hotness of your dish.

The other thing that the cooking method does is to intensify the flavours of the spices. And you could really tell. The chicken and vegetables had taken on every flavour of the secrets spices, and were very tender.

Out of the chicken and vegetarian options, we both just about preferred the chicken (we do love a bit of meat with our meals), though equally both agreed that the vegetarian option was very tasty too. As ever, we like to back up our claims of enjoyment with the proof of empty plates, which you can see below.

If you fancy trying the Biryani, then you can visit a Masala Zone at one of seven different locations in London. What's more, if you are a student then you can get 10% off the bill with student ID on Sunday to Thursday before 6.30pm or after 10pm.

Finished!