The Finest of Indian’s – Scene MCR

After fish & chips, a good curry has been lovingly adopted by the British public as a favourite dish; whether it’s a meal with friends or a takeaway while watching Saturday night TV, the curry is as diverse and widely loved as any out there. Scene was added to Spinningfields collection of great restaurants in April and had something different to offer; as a huge fan of Indian I was dying to try it as soon as I heard about it. After I’d left I couldn’t believe I hadn’t tried it sooner.

Scene have brilliantly taken the style of a traditional Indian restaurant and revamped it slightly for the city crowds; it pays tribute but updates, creating a really great atmosphere that’s not just your average cool restaurant and not just a traditional Indian. This is all helped by the great welcome from staff. On the way to your table you can catch a glimpse of the herbs and spices been added to the dishes you’re about to try, this just adds to the experience.

Much like it’s decor, Scene’s menu has a brilliant mix, not only of chicken, lamb, vegetables or seafood but also of classics that everyone knows or something a little bit different. No doubt they’re Karahi’s and Rogan Josh’s are nice but being offered so many different dishes doesn’t come around every day, we had to be adventurous and get something new. The only problem? It all sounded too good. It took several reads and some fantastic service from the staff, who all seemed to know the menu inside out, to make our selections. Our waiter gave his suggestions and offered pairing options that we could hardly refuse. For starters the Lamb Chops and a mixture of the Samosa Chaat (Filled potato and chickpeas, topped with yoghurt, mint and tamarind chutney) and the Chicken & Red Pepper Samosa (Crisp savoury pastries stuffed with chicken and red peppers; accompanied with chana masala) that they fused together specially.

The Samosa won’t look like any you’ve ever had before and it’ll taste a lot better than anyone you’ve ever had before as well. An explosion of flavour in a large enough portion to share, it’s a dish you’ll keep wanting more of even once you’ve licked the plate clean. (FYI, there was no actual plate licking!) The Lamb Chops will come along in a much more traditional manner but again will excel above those that you’ll have gotten from your local take away. Seasoning and spice have been kept to a minimum to allow the true quality of the meat to come through and enhance those flavours rather than overpowering them to make up for the lack of quality meat. Again there was enough of this great dish to share.

These starters had us excited for our mains; there is no doubt about that. However it was really nice to be asked by a waiter if we were ‘ready for our mains’ and said that he could give us five minutes to relax. A really nice customer service touch.

Again the mains were a combination of our choices and the waiter’s recommendations. When we asked him to recommend a lamb dish he said that their Nihari* was the one to go for; a lamb shank cooked with garlic, ginger, yoghurt, onion, tomatoes, wheatflour and Scene’s very own ‘secret spices’. When we were told that this would go perfectly with a couple of chapatti’s to mop up the sauce I couldn’t order it quick enough. To bring a balance to our meal we also opted for a chicken dish, in this case the recommended dish was one we were already eying up ourselves, the Dhaba Murgh; chicken cooked in a thick sauce with spring onions, fresh coriander and traditional spices. The mains just carried on where the starters had left off. Food that was full of flavour, the seasoning and spices perfectly balanced.

*the picture for the Nihari decided to go AWOL but we can assure you, it look’s great!

I think it’s safe to say that we loved Scene and everything that it had to offer. We can’t speak highly enough of it. The food is as good as any Indian restaurant you’re going to find, the service is exemplarily and the atmosphere is cool while in keeping with tradition. Scene has just become our go to Indian.

The Highs:
This is the best Indian that we’ve had in a long time and when you can couple that with great service then you’re onto a winner.

The Lows:
On this visit there wasn’t any!

Back Again?
I’ll repeat the last sentence of the article; Scene has just become our go to Indian.