Lovely spot, nice wait staff. Food very good and reasonable prices. And they have good Indian beer!

We stumbled upon this gem and were lured in deeper by the amazing smells. Small, quiet atmosphere. Did not disappoint! We enjoyed the curry, mango salad and garlic naan. Don't pass this up if you are near Notting Hill/Kensington/Baywater read more

Malabar - Indian Near Me - London, XGL

London has some of the best Indian food in the world, and Malabar is a testament to that. Welshie and I shared the lamb keebab starter, spicy and perfect for sharing (four mini kebabs). I had the lamb-stuffed naan with my meal, which was incredibly sumptuous--spicy, flaky, gooey, chewy, bubbly all at the same time. I ordered the tandoor chicken starter as my main and it was delightful. Crisp, tender, spicy and came atop a bed of seasoned onions and peppers. The service was great, and the price was astonishingly low for a sit-down place with such great ambiance. We made out with beers, sodas, a starter, two dishes and two naans for under 50 quid. Would definitely return. read more

Malabar - Indian Near Me - London, XGL

What a great little Indian place in the middle of notting hill. Tucked away close to portobello market near notting hill gate. Awesome food. We even saw Bill Nighy dining there. What a great night. Good was great although portions can be a bit larger. Reasonable prices for the quality and taste. read more

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Malabar. The name is cool. It reminds me my childhood. But I'm not a child anymore (Or so it seems...) and I had booked a table for us. Once we arrived, we were told there wasn't any reservation at this name. Looks like they trusted us. We were lucky because they managed to find an available table. Service was average. We really had to insist to get their attention. But the food was quite good, even if the korma and the murg dansak didn't convince my friend. The Tandoori was perfect though. And I had a particular pleasure to sip the Cobra beer that I hadn't tasted for quite a long time. Prices are surprisingly low for the location and the quality. All in all, it wasn't bad but didn't deserve the buzz I heard about this place. read more

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Firstly, the map above is wrong - Malabar is in Notting Hill, in close proximity to Notting Hill tube station. I went in here yesterday having heard good things about it from local residents, and indeed, it did seem to be full of local Notting Hillers, from families including children to older couples: it's a million miles away from the dark, slightly dodgy curry houses that everyone knows and loves! Split onto about 3 levels, the place has a sophisticated grey interior with tiled flooring and crisp table linen - all good signs to start and plentiful number of staff ensured service was as crisp as the poppadoms which were the first to arrive. The menu was split into different categories of meat and is relatively short, for me a good sign that everything is fresh. Further courses, from the mild to the spicy arrived in small metal dishes that one decanted into a big metal tray - this took some getting used to, but was a good idea that ensured the rice didn't end up all over the table. I won't bore you with the details of the food, but it was certainly the best Indian food I'd ever had, with attention to detail obvious. Looking around during my meal, the deserts seemed rather popular, from the imaginatively named 'Banana desert' complete with schnapps, to the delicious Indian ice cream with cardamom, which was a light, refreshing end to the food. Overall, there were lots of little signs here that the place was good: efficient service, good decor, rice that was fluffy and actually tasted of something (star anise), a bucket of ice left with the water, coffee in very upmarket cafetieres, etc. Proudly stuck on the front door was a Michelin 2009 sticker, which I'm sure it deserves. Although I haven't tried other upmarket Indian restaurants in London, such as The Cinnamon Club in Westminster, I'd say this was as good a place as any. read more

Malabar - Eating out of big trays was quite useful actually! - Indian Near Me - London, XGL

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Clearly a popular spot in an upmarket neighbourhood as reservations were necessary and the place was nearly full upon arrival 8pm on Saturday night. Our table of 6 had the downstairs corner table and ordered a slew of small and main plates and wine and beer. While the beverages came soon after, the food took over 20 minutes to arrive. Service in general was absent as no one checked up between the actual delivery of food, and plates were modest in portion. That being said, the volume of our order which included 2 fish curries - salmon with green beans and garlic, prawns masala, gobi, basmati rice all around, murg makhni and an assortment of naan - peshawari, garlic and plain - assured us we would be full. As we were among the last tables in the restaurant, service dwindled further as we tried to pay our bill and clear out. There was the draft of cigarette smoke wafting through which I can only imagine was due to restaurant workers taking a break within the space and most unwelcome to the non smokers at our table. On top of that the restrooms were extremely small and not well kept. All signs generally pointed to falling short of expectations here. read more

The food here was really tasty, and came in acceptable portions (not too tiny, not Texas-huge), so that they were perfect for sharing with a group and trying several items. Highlights: -naan... soft, warm, pita-like -murg korma (chicken in creamy sauce... good with naan) -tandoori wings (crack-addicting chicken wings) -lentils Low point: -Kaddu: undercooked, so it was hard instead of blissful. A small detraction on an otherwise exceptional meal Price tag: fine Service: friendly Curried dishes: well specified, easily avoidable, enjoyed by those who enjoy it Wine & beer only Enjoy. read more

London has so many very good Indian restaurants and this is one of them. The atmosphere here is very refined and on the fancier side with white tablecloths and the whole lot. But given the tablecloths and the neighbourhood the prices were reasonable. We weren't incredibly hungry that night so got one fish dish with multiple vegetables. Standouts that night were the cinnamon potatoes, dal and eggplant. My dining companion had been there before and the previous time was even better. I'd go back for sure. read more

Fabulous Indian restaurant in Notting Hill. The restaurant is in a quant neighborhood that the homes are color coordinated. Really cute neighborhood. Easily accessible from the tube. I wasn't a huge fan of Indian food until my trip to London. Here I learned to appreciate the uniqueness of the Indian spices that separates Indian cuisine from all others. The naan was thick, fluffy, and right out of the oven. Paired up with my shrimp tiki masala was like that perfect first kiss that you don't want to end. It's that GOOD! The portion was plenty and the naan kept coming therefore we were unable to get to dessert. The restaurant ambiance is very intimate. Great for dates but not girls not our or family night unless your kids are well behaved. Highly recommend this restaurant! You haven't have fabulous Indian cuisine until you try this restaurant! read more

It's been a while since my last visit to Malabar. It never disappoints. I like the fact that the menu is less extensive than many other places, which actually makes choice much easier. Everything tastes very fresh and you can actually identify individual herbs and spices. Today I went for the vegetarian thali which was a delicious selection of dhal, raita, sag and a couple of vegetable curries, as well as the best pilau rice I have had in ages (I love cardamom and cinnamon!) and a delicious roti. I passed the kulfi which was also part of the deal to a friend and enjoyed the coffee while nibbling on sugar coates fennel seads. Excellent value at £14! ... and, yes, the map above is wrong. Malabar is situated in Uxbridge STREET behind the Coronet Cinema in Notting Hill Gate. read more

Showed up with a group of 13 at 7pm on a Friday night w/no reaervations. Very friendly and all of the food was awesome. Had chicken tikka, lentils, cucumber salad, garlic, plain, cheese naan (cheese was my favorite). All in all, highly recommended!! read more

[Non-photo Review] For full review, please see: http://wp.me/pwXBH-E6 Malabar The Indian Meal that Tasted of Nothing We needed a curry in a hurry It was January, we were back from France. There we were, for some unbeknownst and unforgivable reason, watching the worst series so far of Gordon Ramsay's F Word. The only good thing about the particular episode was the food emanating from the mind and hands of Aktar Islam, the Head Chef of Lasan, one of the 'local' Indian restaurants that had been nominated by viewers as 'the best local Indian restaurant' in the country. I had to admit, the guy's food had some flare and, if it tasted even close to as good as it looked, it must have been pretty amazing. He certainly seemed intent on pushing Indian cuisine beyond the normal confines of the UK restaurant scene. To make a long story short, this guy was getting us in the mood for a good curry, so we decided we would have an Indian meal the next night, which happened to be a Friday. So we went through the list of good Indian places that we could go. But we didn't want anything fancy (so places like Zaika, Tamarind, Benares, etc. were out), and we didn't want to go too far from home. After quite an in-depth Google rampage, I thought I had done the unthinkable and uncovered one of London's hidden gems. It had no blogger reviews on Urbanspoon, but lots of great comments in an array of less noted diner forums alluding to the fact that this was a 'hidden neighborhood jewel' of a restaurant in Notting Hill which mostly only locals frequented and that they had some rather unusual dishes when compared to traditional curry houses. After perusing their menu online through their rather annoying site (why have two sites instead of one?), I felt quite confident when making our reservation that we just may be onto a winner. If only life could be so simple How to make food that tastes of nothing We had actually walked by this restaurant a few times on strolls through Notting Hill over the past few years, so knew where it was and that it looked the part looking from the outside in. It certainly continued to look the part as we entered that Friday night and were led from the ground floor dining room to the downstairs one, where we were given a table along the back wall, which had bench seating on the wall side of the table and chairs on the other. The place was decorated simply but tastefully in a modern slightly-nicer-than-IKEA way. It also had a good buzz, with large tables of friends downing Cobras (okay, so maybe this wasn't going to be as refined as I thought it might be, but it could still be good), and generally appearing to have a good time. We had a look through the menu, and it read very well. There were lots of dishes that sounded appetizing and tempting, and a number of dishes I had not seen on other Indian menus elsewhere in London. Despite Mrs. LF's dietary situation (as you will know from recent posts, she didn't have appetite for anything very ambitious given her stage of pregnancy), I insisted that I would order at least one of the more interesting dishes which I had read were good from other diner reviews. The waiter brought us a carafe of water, which was presented in a nice aqua colored glass vessel and I perused the small but adequately thought-out wine list and chose a glass of the house wine (Hazy View, Chenin Blanc, Western Cape, South Africa at £4 per 125ml glass), which I figured would mesh well with the flavors of the Indian food. Decorative silver plates were laid down on the table and the waiters seemed to be kind, efficient and professional. Our first starter sounded like it might be a bit different as I had never personally had corn with chillies. Unfortunately, it didn't excite our palates at all. In a nutshell, this dish could be described as someone taking a tin of sweet corn, emptying it onto a little silver platter, chopping up a few slices of green peppers, and throwing in a few green chillies. Yeah, it tasted like plain old sweet corn that a college student had tried to dress up by chucking some green stuff in. Nothing totally clashed, but nothing was working together either, and it just tasted boring if slightly weird. Strike one. 3/10. As John Torode or Gregg Wallace might say, So, from sweet corn to devilled liver. Yeah, I had gone with something a bit more ambitious. My starter of devilled chicken liver arrived on a huge black hot plate, lying on a bed of onions. The portion size was ginormousI mean this literally could have been a main course. Possibly this is because the starters were meant to be shared family-style, but the waiters never warned us of this. In any case, I was eager to try what was meant to be one of the kitchen's specialties, but my excitement was sorely misplaced. As I bit into the relatively soft meat, I searched for the words to describe the taste. It did taste faintly of chicken liver, just. I could tell there were some spices thrown in, read more

Great indian spot in Notting Hill. The dishes were well prepared with lots of flavours. The prices were really good for the quality of food you are getting and for the spot where it is located. The decor and atmosphere is nice and it's the type or place I would have dinner with friends or take my wife on a midweek date. Overall, highly recommend going here and trying it out for yourself. read more

We were staying nearby on the weekend of Carnival, though not attending the festival, so finding somewhere to eat in tinge neighborhood was a challenge. We were happy to find Malabar's website which advertised being open till 11 and was offering Carnival specials. At 9:30pm OpenTable would have even allowed me to make a reservation for later, so instead we chose to walk over to just walk in. There were plenty of open tables, but the server told us no we could not dine in, could not take out. The "open till 11pm" was even posted on a large poster on the door. Very misleading to advertise being open during a special event weekend, only to somewhat rudely turn customers away over an hour before that posted closing time. read more

I had the veggie samosas, myrg dansak (chicken curry with lentils and tamarind), rice and papadum. The food is tasty but dripping in oil. You have a 100% chance of indigestion afterwards. Also £1 per papadum?? Rip off. read more

Malabar is a lovely, classy Indian restaurant that my friend and I enjoyed after a very long walk. It's quite hidden away, and ended up being a nice surprise. Unfortunately I wasn't terribly well that day, and couldn't enjoy the meal to the fullest, but the monkfish curry with green beans was unique and inspired, and the murg dansak had some wonderfully tender chicken! Great, complex array of spices in the curry and really decent prices for what you get, especially at a nice place in Notting Hill! So many great curry places in London, but if you're in Notting Hill and craving some Indian food, you won't be disappointed here! read more

Malabar came highly recommended so we tried to go there multiple times before it was finally open. They seem to have pretty limited hours and a very limited holiday schedule which wasn't available on their website or posted anywhere at the restaurant. When we finally got there for lunch, the restaurant was completely empty. The food was good, not spectacular. Prices are reasonable but portions are small. We had saag gosht, a chicken curry dish, naan, and a corn dish to start. The corn was the best part--fresh and flavorful. The rest of it was just ok, pretty greasy, not at all spicy, and kind of bland. The service was good but we were the only people in the restaurant and the server/owner stared at us from the bottom floor the entire time waiting for us to finish eating. So maybe too attentive? I'd go back but it wouldn't be my first choice for Indian food in London. read more

In late October 2010, my friends and I arrived late at this unpretentious Indian restaurant that was easy to find from the Notting Hill Gate tube station. Malabar served Indian food that was spicy yet delicate, and very tasty! Service was professional, friendly and unhurried. Each of us felt that we received a good value -- very good food and drink without overpaying. We will return! read more

An amazing Indian restaurant hidden behind Notting Hill's 'Gate cinema'. Great polite and active staff as well as really great tasting authentic Indian dishes at a very reasonable cost. A great destination for couples and mature families. Smart casual is fine, definitely worth checking it out! read more

The food was decent. We ordered the king prawn dansak, the dal gosht, garlic nan, and rice. The service was terrible. The establishment opens for dinner service at 6pm and we were the 1st to arrive around 6:20pm. After being seated; both waiters sat in the seating area below, playing on their mobile phones for almost 10 minutes before coming and taking out order. When the 2nd set of customers came in, my husband heard an audible sigh from one of the waiters. I thought customers would be a welcomed sight for a restaurant, but not here. read more

Excellent nieghborhood Indian restaurant on a quiet street in Notting Hill. Fresh ingriedients, good sized portions and a varied menu. Food was nicely spiced, but not overpowering. Have had a variety of dishes on 2 separate visits and the food has been consistently above average. Only criticism was their lassi was rather bland & milky. read more

One of the worst meals I've had in a long time. Started off well, good yelp reviews, recommendation from friends, really nice waiter when we came in, buzzy modern Indian atmosphere, order was taken quickly. Description of food seemed to indicate modern Indian. Papadum and chutney arrived quickly (which we had to pay extra for). So far, so good. Then, a 45 minute wait for food, and when it finally came, it was soooo disappointing. Everything had the same bland taste and used the same- yellow poussin (chicken) tandoori, yellow lamb chops, yellow monkfish curry, yellow pumpkin curry, and yellow-ish green rice (the naan never arrived). The rice was the best part. The tandoori poussin was two tiny legs and one breast (think small Cornish game hen size), and the lamb chops were also tiny. The fish curry had nice al dente green beans, but with four tiny pieces of fish and two big bones. The pumpkin with fresh herbs was undercooked (still hard) and oily. I still had indigestion the next day. I had guests visiting from out of town and wanted to take them for good curry on their last night, but sadly this was not the place. Should have gone to my local. Won't go back. read more

A must-go if you are looking for a great Indian restaurant in the Notting Hill area. The decor is understated and elegant. The food was delicious and reasonably priced for what you get in this neighborhood. read more

Good food, good service. Really enjoyed the lamb and the cobra beer. The dahl was really runny, but other than that everything was good.

Meh. Kinda bland food and luke warm. Bread was a bit over cooked as well. Not my favorite by any means. Prob won't return.

Malabar is a good neighborhood restaurant that serves good food in a fairly informal setting. Good prices for the area. The food is consistent and is served on large metal platters. read more

Nicely decorated, through the staff weren't the most friendly. Menu had a good mix of items. We ordered garlic naan, pappadams, bhindi, and a chicken curry. All of the food, while tasty, was very under spiced and a bit boring. Prices were higher than I would expect as we'll. I'm sorry to say that we were pretty disappointed. read more

Great food and so close to the place we rented. Will be going back tomorrow. Wish the bench seats were a bit more comfortable. Staff service was good. I might have them add a bit more heat tomorrow. The curry had excellent flavor but would like a bit more heat. read more

If you eat a lot of Indian food and like it, this restaurant is nothing special. It fact it will probably disappoint. Most disappointing to me was a starter dish (not cheap) describing itself as "Sweet corn kernels mixed with fresh green chillies and green pepper". In fact it was half a tin of sweetcorn with a tiny bit of spice which hardly gave it any flavour at all. Totally underwhelming. In the pumpkin vegetable side (again not cheap) the chef hadn't bothered to peel the skin so it was tough and spoiled what would have anyway been a fairly average dish. Restaurants like this annoy me. They have a cool Notting Hill vibe, are expensive, and assume an air of 'we're better than your local Indian'. In fact they are worse! read more

I have liked, ney loved, the Malabar for years - since my wife and I lived in Notting Hill, many years ago. We come back from our home in France to stay in London sometimes, not often, but we always try to go back to the Malabar. There we used to take our children (now mostly married with their own children) and they could eat as much as they liked at Sunday lunchtime for £7.50. Blow me we went there the other day (with our youngest, 23, unmarried) and the same Sunday lunch was £10.50. What has inflation been over 25+ years? It has had more than a lick of paint since the early days and sadly the beautiful owner has retired to Hastings! But the service is still friendly and it is still terrifically good not just because of Sunday lunch. Of course there are many more good Indian restaurants and I wish just one of them would come to France where they are either awful or spring up well and then die because the French think their food is the only food worth eating on earth (like their wine which is being beat from every which way). How they are being left behind. Long live the Malabar. read more

My son and I looked at the reviews of this restaurant and thought it sounded nice. We walked in and at first glance my thoughts were very basic indeed. We asked for a glass of wine they bought me a carafe which was sent back. Then the food came and a hot metal tray was placed in front of us. The best way to describe my chicken korma was like having a bowl of soup with some chicken in it. The rice was tasteless,and my wine was undrinkable. Halfway through this a man opened the door at the top of the stairs as he was bringing bottles from outside into the restaurant,and no one bothered to come and ask if we're cold or anything. I promptly put my coat on. The door was left open for the duration of our visit. We left there and had something to eat in the hotel which was lovely. read more