Taking Rohan’s advice I ended up having a meal at Mela, an Indian restaurant just around the corner from the office. This place can be found walking up past the Oasis sports centre, and a little bit down along Shaftsbury Avenue towards Soho/Chinatown. On initial appearances, Mela comes across more like a Chinese restaurant, more so than an Indian one, with long sticks of meats hanging in the window. Like most other London restaurants, the tables are pretty close together, but have enough room to feel like you’re not sitting right next to other tables. The décor is bright and colourful and everyone in the restaurant was fortunate that night to be entertained by some musicians playing traditional Indian instruments live such as the Sitar. The service was excellent most of the time and the offerings of food are quite broad and different compared to most other Indian restaurants. More to the point, the quality of the food was excellent with strong flavours and lots of heat that was well soaked up by pilau rice and some fresh naan bread.

The servings seemed a little on the small side compared to many other places I had been to, with us having to order two naans and rice serves instead of just our normal single serves, but the quality of food made up for it. We were a little surprised that the total cost was as much as it was when the bill came up, so it is best surmised as something a little bit pricier for better quality than most other ones out there. It was a good dining experience and at least I know where a decent Indian restaurant is now.

Details: Mela
Found on: 152-156 Shaftesbury Avenue, London, WC2H 8HL
Contactable on: 020 7836 8635
Highlights: Excellent atmosphere and a wide selection of quality Indian foods. Service was attentive without being in your face for most of the night.
Room for improvement: Rice and naan serves seemed a little small for the price they were charging.
The Kua Rating: 8.5 out of 10