Rasa

Rasa in Stoke Newington Church Street opened in 1994. It serves vegetation food from Kerala and other regions of southern India. Rasa was founded by Das Sreedharan, himself from Kerala. Over the years, Rasa expanded to a few venues, and I have visited them all. There was a place in Charlotte Street, one in Piccadilly and even one in the unlikely setting of a Holiday Inn hotel near Sadler's Wells. The other branches have fallen by the wayside, but the original remains. There is also a cookery school in Kerala called Rasa Gurukul, opened in 2017. Rasa’s head chef is Sasidharan Nair, who has been here since the restaurant opened. There was a short wine list of eight bottles, ranging from £28 to £38, with no vintage listed. Cobra beer was £5.50 for a 330ml bottle. 

Bhel mix (£7) was superb, spicy and with pomegranate seeds bringing freshness. The tamarind chutney was lovely and the puffed rice was crisp. The whole dish had a lovely balance of flavours and textures. This was a superb Bhel (14/20 may be too mean a score). The masala dosa was enormous, barely fitting on the table. The dosa was crisp and thin and was filled with a mix of potatoes, onions and spices. (Mate sambal on the side was excellent, as was the coconut chutney (14/10).  

Rasa kayi (£9) is a spicy mixed vegetable curry. There were potatoes, carrots, curry leaves, beans, fennel, cauliflower and red chillies among other ingredients. This was very enjoyable, if not quite in the league of the other dishes (13/20). Lemon rice was nicely made, and there was an excellent paratha on the side. This was light and fluffy and entirely devoid of any greasiness (14/20).

The bill came to £48 for one person, with just water and a lassi to drink. However, I ordered more than I needed. You could easily eat here for about £38 a head, maybe less. Portions were very generous indeed. Rasa is a lovely restaurant, with genuinely classy food. It is an awfully long way away from where I live, but if it were local to me, I’d be here every week.

Further reviews: 01st Jun 2003