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Ganapati isn’t your ‘run of the mill’ curry house. In fact, it has a bit of a new age / hippy feel to it, with the slight whiff of incense in the air and the waiting staff wearing what look like smocks. But for those of you who are more ‘city’ than ‘swampy’, don’t let that put you off. The food is very good – with a variety of authentic South Indian dishes on offer and not a chicken tikka masala in sight!

For starter, we shared the vegetarian street snacks, which comprised two spicy potato balls and two chana dal (a type of bean apparently) patties, which weren’t bad. The mains however really impressed; we went for the lamb kurma served with coconut rice and, on the recommendation of the waitress (who was a little stern to begin with but soon softened), the duck vindalho which, as she quite rightly pointed out, was hot but with the plain yoghurt which accompanied it not too hot.

Interestingly, the food was served on plates rather than in curry house standard issue metal bowls. Both dishes were freshly cooked and full of flavour – a far cry from the greasy slop I’ve eaten at some Indian restaurants recently. And the bread, kerala paratha – a flat, ‘stringy’ bread, was delicious and quite different to naan.

I was pleased to discover Ganapati also offers an excellent choice of beers from the Meantime Brewery in Greenwich; we tried the wheat beer and the union, both of which were excellent. A refreshing change to Cobra and Kingfisher.

The bill came to about £44 between us, which admittedly is a little more than your ‘average’ curry. But then, this wasn’t your ‘average’ curry…

8/10

Inshoku is a Japanese restaurant situated on Lower Marsh SE1, just a few metres further up (on the opposite side) from the Queen of Cheap Eats – Marie’s Café.

I’d been recommended Inshoku by a lady I’d met the week before at a work-related event and she claimed it served “the best sushi in London” (everyone’s got a favourite cheap eat it seems…). So when we went on a Friday night after work, expectations were high.

The restaurant’s a fair size with lots of tables but on the night we went, somewhat surprisingly we were one of only two other couples in there (although it got busier as the night progressed).

Inshoku offers a wide range of Japanese food. Both my fellow diner and I plumped for a bento box for £7 (which I think are only available ‘til 8pm): chicken katsu (breaded chicken) and chicken teriyaki respectively.

The miso soup (included in the price) arrived promptly and the rest of the meal soon followed. Both dishes came with rice and half an orange (presumably to cleanse the palette after eating); the chicken katsu also included a salad and the teriyaki deep fried battered vegetables (similar to tempura). We also ordered a small plate of mixed sushi for about £5.

Overall the food was pretty good and reasonably priced, and the service quick and efficient, if a little unfriendly.

And how was the sushi I hear you ask; was it the best in London? Well, not having tried every sushi restaurant in the capital, I’m not sure I’m really in a position to confirm or refute such a claim. However, two businessmen behind us ordered the sushi platter and I have to admit, it looked pretty damn good…

7.5/10

The Blacksmith’s Arms offers customers the best of both worlds: a good, traditional ‘boozer’ at the front, and a Thai restaurant serving tasty and authentic dishes at the back.

On arrival, we were greeted by the friendly waitress and although it was busy – both in the pub and in the restaurant, which is split over two rooms – we were shown to a table straight away.

For starters, we ordered chicken satay and spring rolls; £3.95 each but good size portions and tasty.

For mains, there was a large selection of dishes to choose from, with more unusual options including a range of Thai salads sitting alongside old favourites such as pad thai and red and green curry. All main dishes are rated Mild, Spicy or Hot, come with rice and are priced between £7.50 and £8, depending on which meat you chose (chicken, beef, prawn or duck).

I ordered the red curry with chicken, which was fresh and tasty with quite a kick (even after asking for it a bit milder! It was down on the menu as ‘Spicy’). My fellow diner ordered another curry dish (the name of which escapes me) which was also quite spicy but again well received.

To cool down, there’s a good selection of ales and lagers to choose from, including Singha Thai beer in bottles. There’s also a comprehensive wine list, offering wines which have been specifically chosen to complement the food and start at £14 a bottle.

With a couple of beers, our bill came to under £30 and we were both too full for dessert (although there were a number on offer, displayed on the chalk board).

My only criticism of the Blacksmith’s Arms was the service, which was a little slow, but the restaurant boasts a pleasant atmosphere, friendly staff and good food. And with the pub at the front, you’ll never be stuck on where to go for an after-dinner drink…

8/10

It should come as no surprise to all of you that when we had the opportunity to eat out in Brick Lane we chose a curry house - after all, that’s the reason why the road is famous. If you haven’t been to Brick Lane before then there are two things you should know:

1. there must be over 50 restaurants to choose from, and

2. you will get harassed by salesman outside each restaurant, just like when you’re on holiday in Greece or Turkey.

The choice is always dazzling and when I tried to do a little research before hand I couldn’t find a good recommendation. In fact strangely the Time Out cheap eats guide recommends a pizza / pasta place! In the end we followed the advice of a friend, who being a chef we figured would know his stuff. To save his reputation I won’t mention his name here.

The restaurant was called the Eastern Eye and I was surprised to see my friends heading in the door considering it was the only one on the Lane that was empty - the rest were buzzing. This set alarm bells ringing in my mind, but tempted by the “we’ll give you 20% off the total bill” offer, we went in. The next reason for alarm was when we were seated in a corner table next to the bar, rather than in the main restaurant. Still, that’s nothing to be too worried about I thought, they’ll surely make the table up… afraid not, we had to ask for cutlery even after our starters had arrived.

Probably the biggest problem I had with this place was the service. The waiter was surly and disinterested, not taking the time to help our vegetarian friend with her choice, or to repeat our order. To be honest, we weren’t entirely sure what was going to arrive. In the end I ordered what turned out to be quite a good chicken Biryiani, and the prawn and vegetable Korai’s were also pretty good. On the other hand the lamb Balti was far too sweet and to quote Ed “it was intense in flavour, but in a bad way” and “it’s almost as if the chef’s hand slipped and he ended up pouring in too much of one particular ingredient”.

The icing on the cake came, not with our dessert unfortunately, but when the bill arrived. Basically we were sitting at the table waiting to order dessert and coffees when two fairly p*ssed up blokes stood behind our table apparently queuing up for a table. This was quickly followed by the bill i.e. please leave. Thanks waiter. Needless to say we didn’t leave a tip.

The food on the whole was OK, but the service was terrible and at times the noise was so loud we could hardly hear our own conversation. Maybe that’s what we’ve come to expect from a curry house, but I’ve been to other far more impressive restaurants on Brick Lane. You can see my fellow diners hot footing away below, in search of somewhere else for a coffee and cake.

Eastern Eye, sorry but overall it’s a generous 4/10. Your only saving grace was the price, with 20% discount taking dinner for 4, minus desert, coffee and alcoholic drinks, down to under £50.

Overall rating 4/10