Randomly pulled out from a hat, Bar Saaqi proved to be a pleasant surprise. We have to admit that we were somewhat cautious about the idea of Indian tapas, especially after we saw chips with curry sauce on the menu. Not deterred, we reasoned that good food can be found in some unexpected places, even if the background music is the greatest hit ballads from the eighties.Saaqi was a woman who served intoxicating drinks to Kings and inspired Urdu poets. She was clearly a woman who knew a thing about the lure of alcohol and the arts. The tapas at Bar Saaqi is a part of the bar menu with a speciality in tandoori cooking. You can select individual dishes or do as we did and order a mixed platter for £11.95.
Someone’s mother is clearly behind this menu. We wanted to know whose mother and where she came from but our waiter couldn’t help. He was new or so he told us. We consoled ourselves with a bottle of Cruz di Piedra, a crisp and flirty wine from Spain.
Our food arrived thali style. The tangari kehab was subtly flavoured tandoori, the chicken was wonderfully moist as good tandoori should be. It was the hit of the evening. We won’t mention the mint yogurt side dish. Saaqui should have known better – very few of us find inspiration in a McKeen’s bottle. We were divided about the fish tandoori – the gara marsala encrusted fish only appealed to some of us. The paneer kathi roll was our vegetarian choice. The paneer was cooked with lots of capsicum with a little chilli, and wrapped in naan. We should have eaten this first as it was just warm by the time we tasted it. The luckhnawi kehab was disappointing – it was very, very dry (we almost chocked on the crumbs) and the mango chutney failed to resuscitate this dehydrated lamb.
Next time you are shopping down Oxford Street and need to escape from the throngs of busy shoppers and need of a drink, you could try some tapas at Bar Saaqi. Be there by 9.00 as after that the volume of the music goes up. The service is reasonably quick. Forget any expectations that your waiter will be able to tell you about the food (we like to know the regional origins of what we are eating). It was a little smoky but hey, it’s a bar.
Would we go there again - errrh, maybe. It's a better alterative that any of the chain eateries that you'll find on Oxford Street.
21-22 Poland Street, London W1F 8QL
Tel: 020 7734 5525
2 comments:
Sound like an interesting bar, we'll take a look.
Found the website http://www.saaqi.co.uk
Not sure about the 80's music, but look forward to tasting their Indian Tapas.
Have since discovered that Bar Saaqi is closed Sunday lunchtimes (as indeed is most of Poland Street's Restaurants - whole different vibe there to when the Foodbloggers group of 3 went there!) Thought anyone reading this blog might like to know this and be aware - probably best to look elsewhere!
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