Eriki - Finchley Road (near to Swiss Cottage)
Eriki has been open a couple of years now. I have to say, I never had any intention of going there. I pass it regularly on the bus, and the frontage makes it look like your usual naff indian restaurant. Besides which the Finchley road is such a grubby location, you can't imagine it accomodating a decent restaurant. Most of the other restaurants around there are suitably down market.
My prejudices were first challenged by the Michelin Guide, which I received for my birthday. Eriki has two knives and forks. I can't remember exactly what that means or how many knives and forks you can get, but it's a good sign, and the place had a good write up. Then someone in my office had the Time Out eating and drinking guide the other day, so I looked it up. More glowing reviews.
I absolutely love indian food, and this place is a very short bus ride from my flat, so I made the necessary arrangements with some other local curry lovers, and we all headed down there on Friday night.
The place was full, which is always a good sign, and creates a nice atmosphere. It's not a small place either, so there was a fair gathering in there. In fact one of my criticisms is that maybe the place is a little too big. It loses the personal touch a bit. But that's a minor point, the service was on the whole quite good and certainly polite. It makes a nice contrast from you average curry house, usually pretty small, specialising in take away, and only about three full tables at any time.
The decor on the inside is as garish as on the outside. Lot's of deep reds and yellows. Apart from it's sheer boldness it doesn't have a massively sub-continental feel to it. It works though, it makes for a bright atmosphere, which along all the full tables gives the place a real buzz.
We had communal starters between five of us. I can't remember exactly what we ordered. The starters were fairly typical indian fayre. I think we had some bhajis and some lamb sticks and some tandoori chicken. There were also some small pastry type things. It was all very nice but nothing particularly amazing. It ranks above your average oily curry house stuff, but not quite in the indian restaurant big league, in fact not in the premiership (Zaika, Cinamon club etc) or even the championship (Cafe lazeez etc). Probably just one league down, and definitely in the professional leagues. Same could be said of my lamb and spinach main course.
To be fair, it prices itself at that point. Meal for two, two courses, a few beers and soft drinks came to £53 including services. Probably about £17 a head on food. All in all it a pretty good place, but in my mind not quite up to the praise which is heaped upon it. I am sure I will be back again and again, because its easy to get to, know only for us but for lots of people we know in the area. It's in a very convenient location being so close to Finchley Road tube station. It's also the best place I've found to get indian food in my locality.
My prejudices were first challenged by the Michelin Guide, which I received for my birthday. Eriki has two knives and forks. I can't remember exactly what that means or how many knives and forks you can get, but it's a good sign, and the place had a good write up. Then someone in my office had the Time Out eating and drinking guide the other day, so I looked it up. More glowing reviews.
I absolutely love indian food, and this place is a very short bus ride from my flat, so I made the necessary arrangements with some other local curry lovers, and we all headed down there on Friday night.
The place was full, which is always a good sign, and creates a nice atmosphere. It's not a small place either, so there was a fair gathering in there. In fact one of my criticisms is that maybe the place is a little too big. It loses the personal touch a bit. But that's a minor point, the service was on the whole quite good and certainly polite. It makes a nice contrast from you average curry house, usually pretty small, specialising in take away, and only about three full tables at any time.
The decor on the inside is as garish as on the outside. Lot's of deep reds and yellows. Apart from it's sheer boldness it doesn't have a massively sub-continental feel to it. It works though, it makes for a bright atmosphere, which along all the full tables gives the place a real buzz.
We had communal starters between five of us. I can't remember exactly what we ordered. The starters were fairly typical indian fayre. I think we had some bhajis and some lamb sticks and some tandoori chicken. There were also some small pastry type things. It was all very nice but nothing particularly amazing. It ranks above your average oily curry house stuff, but not quite in the indian restaurant big league, in fact not in the premiership (Zaika, Cinamon club etc) or even the championship (Cafe lazeez etc). Probably just one league down, and definitely in the professional leagues. Same could be said of my lamb and spinach main course.
To be fair, it prices itself at that point. Meal for two, two courses, a few beers and soft drinks came to £53 including services. Probably about £17 a head on food. All in all it a pretty good place, but in my mind not quite up to the praise which is heaped upon it. I am sure I will be back again and again, because its easy to get to, know only for us but for lots of people we know in the area. It's in a very convenient location being so close to Finchley Road tube station. It's also the best place I've found to get indian food in my locality.
posted by foodpete at 3:31 AM
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