Chowki **

Chowki, on paper, has a lot going for it. It’s situated in an ideal location just off Piccadilly Circus and Shaftesbury Avenue, convenient for a meal after an evening out in Theatreland or a day out in Central London. It’s also a low-cost Indian restaurant which offers food from different regions in India, a unique idea which is rare to see in most of London’s curry houses.

The restaurant however fails to deliver on all counts. The seating in the restaurant is Wagamama style with benches and the location itself is on a narrow side street on Denman Street. It’s also arguably one of the dankest and dark restaurants I have ever been into and the ambience added little to enhance the overall dinining experience. Chowki can perhaps take note from Masala Zone and how each of their restaurants is excellently decorated and maintained.

The food was similarly disappointing although the starters were reasonable including the bhel puri and samosas. The desserts were also ordinary and by no means unique, the photo above will attest to that  however these dishes alone are no reason to come to Chowki. The mains however were particularly disappointing and the culinary variation reflective of India’s diverse cuisine was simply not evident – the Madras chicken curry was prepared in exactly the same manner as the Mumbai lamb curry the only difference in the dishes being the choice of meat. The preparation of the dishes and the quality of the food however was not bad although only just above average.

The only thing however that did bring a smile to my face was the bill which was very reasonable for a restaurant adjacent to Shaftesbury Avenue. You can expect to pay approximately £10-£15 per head for a meal including drinks although it should be noted that there are other restaurants in London that offer far better food at similar prices.

Overall I would give Chowki a rating of 2 out of 5.