Shamoli Thai & Indian Cuisine

I didn’t have a great meal. Fish cakes were chewy and tough. The pad thai was like no other I’ve ever had. Clearly a low bar given their great location.

Off the Mile and up some stairs, this rather pleasant room hides away from the busy streets behind old arched casements.
When Moray L suggested we come here for a catch-​up dinner, I looked it up here on Unilocal and was a little apprehensive based on the other reviews. But hey, what’s life if you don’t take a risk now and then?
Well, I’m kind of glad we did. The place itself is rather spacious and very comfortable, with low lighting (they bring up the lights a little brighter over an occupied table, which is quite snazzy) — altogether quite pleasing, especially on a cold, rainy December night. One touch that really doesn’t work, though, is a large digital clock with red numbers — even counting the seconds — which «chimes» the hour every 30 minutes. It’s a little disruptive, not to mention slightly apocalyptic.
Now then, when it comes to curries, I love chicken korma. I mean I really love it. I don’t choose it because I can’t handle spice (I can) or because I don’t like the unfamiliar (I do) but just because I really, really love it. But normally, I feel cowed, worried that I will be judged as a pleb, so I order something else instead. Of course, I always enjoy my food; I don’t order to spite myself. However, sometimes I just long for that creamy rich korma… Well, this was the day! Defiantly, I decided to navigate with determination to the korma, through an impressively extensive menu — the second half of the menu is Indian; the first half, it claims, is Thai — I’m no expert in Thai so can’t comment on the remarks in previous reviews that it lacks authenticity. Moray L was certainly looking forward to her meal at least, having eaten there before, and promising me that the sweet potato fritters were «the best thing ever!»
The sauces that arrived with our poppodums were a little lacklustre and I think they might have come out of bottles, but they were fine. Our waiter, on the other hand, did not seem fine. I don’t know whether he’d just had some terrible news, or was just having a really bad day, but he walked everywhere at half speed like he’d rather be anywhere else and never cracked a smile once. It wasn’t busy in there (about three or four tables including us), but it seemed to take forever to get anything done and after our first drinks he didn’t come back to offer us more at any point.
Moray was right, by the way: those fritters really are quite something. As I said, I can’t vouch for their Thai authenticity but I don’t really care. I just want to eat them all. My korma, too, was lovely — perhaps there wasn’t as much as I might have hoped for, but maybe I’ve been spoiled in the past. It was just fine — not the best I’ve had, but not disappointing either, and hit the spot nicely. I’d ordered lemon rice to go with it, and it was super-​lemony (hooray!), which gave a nice kick to the creaminess of the korma.
Our bill came to just under £40 and, well, here’s a useful thing — if you’re going Dutch, they handily present the total per person (as divided equally) beneath the main total. Assuming you’ve ordered roughly the same amount, this means no more faffing around working it out!
It feels like more than three stars, it really does, but just doesn’t quite warrant four. But anyway, despite the Clock Of Doom (perhaps explaining the Waiter Of Misery) I’d come back here again happily for a nice cosy meal on a winter’s evening.

This restaurant is a disgrace. A mediocre Indian ruined by claims to be able to cook Thai.
We asked if there was a Thai chef and were told to order a Thai dish and judge for ourselves (ie «no»). We ordered a som tum and got a coleslaw with raisins! Trade Descriptions should be alerted!
Another table of diners were going through exactly the same farce, we noticed.
Cheap though, and nice location overlooking the Royal Mile.

This place is wonderful. Imagine getting to eat as much indian food as you can possibly imagine for under a tenner, and even better, on my favourite street in the world, the royal mile. The food is great, the staff are lovely, the location is epic. Say no more.

The buffet was very decent and reasonably priced compared to other place. Only con was that the food was not spicy. I would give it a 3.5.

The good: very attractive restaurant in the touristy area.
But…the food was not Indian, what it was I cannot say. There are no Indian spices being used, I couldn’t recognize any of the food. They brought ‘papadum’ and some sauces. I asked for an order of Indian pickles and chutneys… they told me we already had them and pointed to the sauces on the table… uhhhh, ok, chutney is pretty universal (although some can be very exotic but I digress) and that was not chutney. Next up– all of the dishes were bland and very sweet like they had been made with canned tomato sauce (or ketchup). I asked for my food very spicy and they said that the food could only be prepared as it was (aka all the food is pre-​cooked and they are just reheating it). So I asked for some hot pickle or hot sauce. They brought some ketchupy looking stuff and warned me that it was very hot… it tasted like ketchup with a half drop of Tabasco in it. Granted I am used to amazing Indian food in Los Angeles where you are taking your life into your own hands when you ask for your food spicy as they will take the opportunity to punish you for tempting the Indian spice deities… but…really? Ketchup? There were no spices to be found, I don’t know how to describe the flavors in the four dishes I tasted other than sweet and bland.
On a good note they were nice to my son and brought him a little dish of ice cream as a bonus. But they did forget to make his food and he ate naan for dinner.
They also forgot to bring me my glass of wine but still put it on the bill along with a charge for an extra order of rice we did not order or get. When we pointed this out they took it off the bill but the bill returned with a gratuity added… I’m not cheap because I don’t want to pay 12 pounds for items I didn’t receive and I wouldn’t think of not tipping a waiter so I was annoyed by this. Oh and it also took them nearly 20 minutes to get us the check in the first place even though we had an extremely restless small child and asked them several times to bring the check.

This restaurant saved us in Edinburgh. After three days of Scottish restaurants (great in moderation, but way too fried for my taste) my friend and I were longing for something spicy or with a bit of vegetables.
The food was delicious — just what we needed (we had the aloo gobi and saag paneer — both very tasty — plus some naan and samosas) and the ambience was relaxing. Great for a night out with a friend or date, and a perfect respite from some of the pub-​fare kind of places along this popular touristy street.
I’ll be back.

What made my trip to this place memorable was the waiter knocking over a candle (they moved in for the plates when I was still on my last bite) splashing candle wax in my hair, face and over my clothes. The waiter said sorry sheepishly then erwalked away. That was it. I wasn’t angry but I took it upon myself to speak to the manager who casually shrugged and said ‘take your clothes to a dry cleaner’I suggested that since I wasn’t to blame, perhaps he should pay for the cleaning bill or give us the meal for free (worth a try) but he was not having any of it. Eventually, he sighed and offered me £10 which I accepted although perhaps I should’ve negotiated on that Especially when he pulled out a roll of money two inches thick. I only decided to pop in here on a whim and first impressions were very much a reminder of what Indian restaurants used to look like although this also had a south east asian twist too with regards to the menu. The food was not too bad to be fair although it was on the expensive side and my new jumper had to be binned (boo)

Was walking up the Royal Mile and saw their sign for Thai and Indian buffet. Who could resist?
I’m used to buffets in the US which are rows upon rows of food. This buffet featured maybe eight chaffing dishes. Decent food. Way too many fried selections for my taste. The chicken tikka masala was sweet which surprised me. Beyond that, I can’t say that anything struck me as particularly great or bad. A decent meal, especially if you’re looking for something other than British food.