Mango- London Indian Restaurant Review.

London is a goldmine for restaurants, on every street corner you will find, Contemporary, Indian, Chinese, Mexican and Continental cuisine. You will find riverside dining, pubs, clubs and also street food, its a food lovers heaven.  In central London there are many hidden gems of restaurants tucked away near the tall office buildings and nestled in and amongst the side streets. Mango is one of these restaurants. Nestled in aside street, a stones throw from London Bridge Station, its a small Indian restaurant on Redcross Way very near Borough Market.

My foodie friend Heidi Roberts and I were invited to Mango to sample their Cuisine. As we made our way to the restaurant I felt rather sad walking past the street where the recent London terror attacks took place. Seeing the flowers placed on the street corner brought a lump to my throat. However the streets were still buzzing and people were carrying on as normal.

We went on a Tuesday evening thinking it will be nice and quiet, how wrong we were the restaurant was busy with a great atmosphere. It is perfectly located for office workers enjoying a meal before heading home.

The restaurant is fairly small and the tables are tightly packed, but we were fortunate as the waiter sat us at a window table. We started our evening with glasses of iced water with lemon as London has been experiencing an Indian summer and the temperature outside was sweltering. We nibbled on Papadums with a tray of condiments, the usual stuff like finely chopped onions, mango chutney and mint chutney.But what really got my taste buds tingling was a spicy red chutney that had the most wonderful tangy spicy taste I have ever encountered. I was rather cheeky and asked the waiter for the recipe which I hope to recreate.

The Mango menu was excellent and there was a good range of dishes to choose from. For starters  I chose vegetarian option of the Aloo Tikki (V) - typical Mumbai street food - potatoes and chick peas spiced with fresh coriander and cumin seeds served with a coriander & mint chutney. 

Heidi Chose the Aachari Paneer (V) slices of paneer marinated with pickling spices and slow cooked in the tandoor oven. Both our starters were delicious and extremely tasty. The Aloo Tikkis were well spiced had a lovely crunchy outer coating and the Paneer was well marinated, and really moist to eat.

For the main course we took advise from the waiter as to what dishes we should try, there were so many lovely vegetarian dishes it was hard to choose so he suggested to order them as side dishes so we could try a few. 

I ordered Dhai Baingon which was a dish made from baby Aubergines cooked with yoghurt, lightly spiced with turmeric and coriander. I am a big aubergine fan but have never cooked aubergines in yoghurt. The dish was truely magnificient in texture and taste and one I will surely recreate at home.

Lentils are a must and always accompany any Indian meal, our waiter recommended the Dall Makhni, slow cooked black lentils in a creamy sauce served with a drizzle of cream. The Dall was indeed rich and creamy and was the perfect accompaniment to the rice.

 I also ordered the  Saag aloo, baby potatoes and spinach lightly spiced with garlic and cumin seeds. 

The Sagg Aloo was mildly spiced, the sinach was creamy and the baby potatoes were tender and had absorbed all the spices making the dish delicious.

To complete the meal we also ordered pilau rice and a basket of breads to share and we had a complimentary side salad. The rice was perfectly cooked each grain separatist and fragrant and the selection of breads were soft and tasty.

Heidi on the other hand chose the Chicken Dum Biriyani , slow cooked basmati rice, caramelised onions layered and cooked in a dough sealed dum pot. It was served with Raita, a cooling yoghurt dip.Heidi was totally mesmerised by the presentation of the Biriyani, and she definitely said the taste was as good as the presentation.

All the dishes were delicious, each dish had its own unique flavour and they were moderately spiced. The portion sizes were huge despite the fact that they were ordered as sides and we were not able to finish the food which the waiter kindly packed for us to take home.

We were offered the dessert menu however we were so full at this stage we declined. In all our experience at Mango was a lovely one, the service was attentive, the food was piping hot and fresh and flavoursome. The only thing I would say was that the tables are really packed together so closely that it was difficult to not over hear diners on the next table and getting in and out of the chairs was really tight.

Total Score: 12/15
Ambiance 4/5
Food 4/5
Service 4/5

To see what Heidi thought about the restaurant please do check out her post.

I was a guest at Mango restaurant and all the views expressed in this post are of my own, I was not asked to write a positive review.