Bangalore Express – Indian in the City

Last Updated on April 19, 2017

A Matrix Curry at Bangalore Express:

Having recently visited The Painted Heron in Chelsea, I was curious to find out more about Chef-Patron Yogesh Datta’s other venture in the City, Bangalore Express.  His background, starting at New Delhi’s Taj Palace Hotel, then moving on to Geneva and Dubai before moving to London to head up the kitchens at Tabla in Docklands.  His own first venture, The Painted Heron, won ‘Best Indian Establishment at the Food Awards in London 2016.  Bangalore Express, his second venture is a casual dining restaurant and bar which offers a wide range of cocktails, beers and wines to complement a menu that provides a flexible dining experience.

There’s a large, cosy downstairs dining space, complete with private bays and TV screens.  It’s the kind of place you might visit for a night of watching The Big Match.  We stayed upstairs more to make sure we had the right light to photograph the food.

A comprehensive menu offers Indian classics, a variety of other spicy dishes and the Matrix Curry.  Intrigued?  We definitely were.  While we tried to work our way through the menu, we nibbled on poppadums with home made chutney.  Every bit as good as the chutneys at The Painted Heron, you definitely shouldn’t miss this part of the meal.

Starters of Chilli Chicken and Golden Fried Prawns with chilli jam were delicious, but almost a meal in themselves.  We had more to come!

I’d tried my best to order a ‘lighter’ dish opting for the Prawns & courgettes in hot & sour Goan curry (£18.50) which was a truly fabulous dish.  A rich, spicy sweet sour sauce was full of juicy prawns and morsels of light courgette.  I’d be curious to know how this particular dish was made – it was unusual and really tasty without being over hot.

My companion braved the Curry Matrix picking Chicken in a Firecracker fiery phaal , with pilau rice, yellow lentils with spinach, a salad and a plain naan.  At £15.50 this is something of a bargain – you tailor the ingredients, the sauce, the accompaniment and the rice of your curry to your own taste.  And, as we discovered, you really don’t need a starter too!

So, once we got to the dessert menu, she was foiled.  And if I am honest, I very nearly was too.  But a kulfi lollipop is an easy, light end to a meal

Bangalore Express is the sort of place you need to know about.  If you happen to find yourself in the City and want somewhere to meet up with friends, you can drink and dine for a reasonable price and there’s absolutely no way you should leave hungry.  While the service was a little haphazard, the food shone and was considerably better than the pricing suggested.

Bangalore Express
1 Corbet Court
3-6 Gracechurch Street
London EC3V 0AT