Preem & Prithi

The first restaurant we hit on Brick Lane where we weren’t immediately accosted outside. So that was a plus.
It was all quite mixed. I had a lamb korma; the sauce was pretty good (though nothing special), but the lamb itself was pretty tough and not great quality. However, my boyfriend’s dhansak was rather tasty, and the paratha we shared was yummy.
I suspect given the number of places on Brick Lane, I won’t return, as I’ll try other establishments first, but it was perfectly acceptable.

Well, it’s time for my very first review for Indian food! Not that I don’t enjoy this delisious cuisine normally, it’s just that usually I reserve it for takeaway or home delivery.
Of course, if one wants a curry, you go to the infamous Brick Lane in East London. There are restaurants after restaurants with jolly folk standing at the entrances trying to entice you in with the promise of a free drink or poppadoms.
We chose Preem Prithi for my first Brick Lane experience. Simple interior, small space at the front with further seating at the back and polite staff. On the occasion I have went to indian restaurants, they have followed a simplistic formula, quick service, a great selection of sauces partnered with the meat of your choice and traditional sides. Food normally arrives quickly, and it is very much an in and out experience. Preem was not much different.
We were greeted with the normal poppadoms and array of dips ranging with refreshing to spicy. We opted to just have mains as it was lunch time. We had Chicken Rogan which was chicken sauteed in a medium curry sauce with chunky fried tomatoes. Musallum chicken, slightly hot stewed in a special kashmiri massala, rich in taste. For sides we had the okra, nan bread and pulao rice.
The food was good, quite reasonably priced and all in all it was an okay experience. This is not a mould breaking Indian restaurant, it does what it says on the box, it serves up indian food. I cannot compare it to others on Brick Lane having only tried this one, but although I did not have a bad experience, I think that variety is the spice of life and you should try whichever you want on Brick Lane, as there is enough choice.

After a month in The Netherlands and Germany I was dying eat some spicy food. We had eaten at Preem and Prithi once before and remembered the food being really good. I asked the waiter what he would recommend for a girl with a Bengali father who was feeling homesick. He recommended a new lamb dish and told me that he would get the chef to make it as authentically as possible, just one level below «extra spicy» and one above «fairly spicy.» The food was out of this world — it had layers of tanginess, sourness, and spice and I could taste the fresh green chillies. It completely satisfied my craving for authentic Indian food, just like I’m used to eating with my family. The best part was how engaged and eager to please the wait staff were and when we finished they offered us our choice of beer, wine, tea or coffee on the house. But I declined because at that point I never wanted to get the taste of the curry out of my mouth! Definitely recommend if you’re keen for some properly spicy food and if you’re not shy about discussing with the waiter what you’re craving.

We came in persuaded by the guy in the front and couldn’t be more impressed with the food or price. 10 pounds per person got us each an appetizer, entrée, rice and naan, AND 2 glasses of beer, EACH?! In an overpriced city like London, that’s a steal! And the food was all good and flavorful! Definitely hit this place up if you’re in the area!

Typical Brick Lane Indian fare. Go on a weeknight and you can easily negotiate a deal with the guy at the door who’s trying to entice people walking by to come in. We got for £12 a person, each a beverage of choice, entrée, app, rice or naan, and a side. Can’t really beat that price! :) Also we mentioned we were looking to book a party on the weekend there and they quickly offered the same deal for our party if we would choose them for booking.
The place is pretty big and is actually several different buildings next to each other.
We enjoyed the curry but it was just ‘ok’ and they gave us good service.
I knock down a star for the terrible indigestion I got afterwards.
Not sure if I’d go back since there are so many more Brick Lane curry spots to try.

The guy outside badgers me and my friend in promising us free drinks and 20% off. Once we get inside and order he tells us that we didn’t order enough for the discount and we can only get soft drinks. What a straight up liar! When our food finally arrived it was terrible! I’m glad it wasn’t my friend’s first time having Indian food because she said it was one of the worst meals she’s ever had! You’re better off just getting indian street food at Boroughs or Greenwich markets. Avoid this place at all costs!

Preem & Prithi is in the middle of Brick Lane and finding a good curry on that Street trusts a lot to luck and my luck held the night I came when I was enticed in on the offer of a round of free drinks.
The walls are decorated by an eclectic collection of art which adds to the general character of the place. I had the Karahi Chicken with pilau rice which was pretty good and much to my liking had a high meat content.

Preem is getting 2-​stars for 2 things — the popardams and the naan. It should be getting 1-​star for charging us for drinks when the guy who badgered us into the place said they’d be on him. I figured I’d just skip the tip instead of making an issue out of it. Of course, in the UK, tipping isn’t really expected in a place like this anyway.
Suffice it to say, all of the mains and side we get were disgustingly sweet. I’ve had my share of Indian food in different countries and this was simply one of the worst. I know butter chicken should be sweet and tangy but this was just extra-​sweet. I ate 2 pieces of chicken with as little sauce as possible and then tried my girlfriend’s masala. Originally I was a bit jealous when I saw hers because sometimes places call tikka masala butter chicken and from the menu description, I thought P&P had, but they had not. Her masala looked good but it also just tasted sweet. No tanginess, no spiciness at all.
We heard them ask another table of imported locals how spicy they wanted their dishes. I guess because we’re white, they assumed we just wanted them sweet with no spice… wrong.
Even the saag paneer was overly-​sweet and creamy. Oh, and the raita, just a slab or 2 of plain yogurt… YUCK. Never seen one that wasn’t spiced and mixed with veg.
My sister said Britain has the best Indian food in the world (presumably outside of India). If it does, you won’t find it at Preem.

I had a lunchtime curry here 6.95 for a starter, main and naan/​rice. the music is perfectly indian but the décor is a bit confusing, old style indian and banksy style artwork. The food was ok-​nothing amazing but ok. Ordered the vegetarian curry and the naans for myself and it was good but didn’t like the mango chutney at all! Still the staff were friendly and it was good value.

Walked down Brick Lane and ended up here. We disliked the rude waiter and vibe in general. The food was just okay, not terrible. But we would never go back here. Service was awful. They seemed to have something against women.
And do not order South Indian. They cannot make a dosa to save their life.

There’s nothing more annoying than hard selling, and Brick Lane restaurants are all about pushing ten quid five-​course lunch specials. Preem and Prithi sent no waiters out to the street to intercept me and I thus rewarded them with my patronage.
The orders took a bit longer than expected to arrive but were nonetheless delivered hot. Be particular careful with the balti dishes — they are formidably spicy. The waiters were generally responsive and attentive. In all a pleasant dining experience.

Very nice place, frendly people, good food. Helps if you know your indian food– what to ask for.

To help you through the maze of the Brick Lane restaurants, I’ll make it easy for you — go to Preem!
On a barmy night, elect to sit at the outside tables and watch the colourful, eclectic Brick Lane hullabaloo.
The food is good quality, delicious and never made any of us sick. The service is professional and friendly, which makes a change from some of the sleazy touts along the road!

Hmmm. well you know I’m not epic on curry or well-​versed enough to know good-​from-​better, but I do know meh-​from-​ehh and this was the latter.
I was out with fellow Unilocaler Suzanne and we did the deer in headlights walk down that part of Brick lane while people shouted deals and numbers at us like we were up for auction. Not knowing bill from bob, we just picked one and decided to go with it. We did get a drink deal out of the doorman, but the food was a bit blah. I mean, it’s cheap, I think it was like 6.95 per person for two course lunch with drinks but I’ve been to a better one… One that I don’t know the name of because they all look the same to me, but if I ever find it again, I’ll be sure to let you know. (it’s somewhere on the other side of the street)

Went down to brick lane for the evening… had my Unilocal for iphone on, but the wife was not interested in the better rated places, so we played restaurant roulette and ended up at Preem.
What a mistake.
Had some popadoms to start which were the highlight of the meal.
Then tried the vegetarian somosas and king fried shrimp– both were very average… The shrimp was huge– the size of my hand– but tasted more of breading than shrimp (and one shrimp for 4 quid??).
I ordered butter chicken and the wife ordered chicken korma– they were both overly sweet, I know they are supposed to be sweet but this was a bit much.
Would not go back.

I have been meaning to log my testimony against these rascals for some time. The day is here. Now is the time.
When last along Brick Lane we — for reasons unclear to anyone — plumped for this dive. It’s hard, if you are not a regular, to discern the cream from the chaff. This is chaff.
Somebody intelligent should devise a guide to all these places because it’s dizzying & unless you live in Shoreditch how the devil are you to know good from bad?
I don’t know if it was because my CONSTANT DINING COMPANION is American — and this happened in that grisly period lived under Bush the Second — but the staff were so crass and blandly rude that I seriously half considered horse-​whipping the waiter on the spot and then coolly challenging the management — en masse — to a duel.
The food was strictly forgettable. Provender tends to go down raither badly when served by a surly waiter anyway, don’t hit? In one ear out the other it goes. I mean by this simply that I might as well have crammed the food into my ear as my mouth for all the pleasure I got from the platter.
They bitched the entrerpise from start to finish. Somebody ought to punch somebody square on the nose.

We set out to Brick Lane with some trepidation, having been told it was a tourist trap and all the curry would be dreadful. I had read enough online reviews to steer clear of all the sleazy touts at the top of the street offering 25% off, 35%, etc.etc. and ended up at this establishment toward the top end of Brick Lane. It wasn’t toutless (when in Rome I guess) but they were relatively mild mannered and didn’t offer to give away the farm, which in this instance was a good sign.
For being in the epicentre of tourist hell I thought Preem was actually quite respectable. Despite having a full bar they were fine with us bringing in beer. We began with a round of poppadums and a mixed tandoori starter, which went down quite well (sheesh kebab was the table favourite). The mixed pickle they served up with the pops had a reasonable kick to it, and while I wasn’t quite sure about their overly sweet raita concoction it grew on me throughout the meal.
For mains, between the three of us we had a butter chicken (not my sort of thing but was good for what it was — maybe a bit less tomatoey and a bit more kormaesque than I would have thought), a lamb jalfrezi (meat was quite tender and flavours were good) and a chicken khaiber (my fave — very good flavourful sauce). We also snuck a brinjal bhaji on the side, which disappeared quite quickly. Throw in some garlic naan and pilau rice, and you can imagine we were pretty stuffed. Total bill came to 40 quid without tip or alcohol (again, we brought our own) and I thought all the food was pretty good all around. I would definitely go here again.

The food at Preem is disgusting. The service at Preem is horrible. Why do people go to Preem? Because they don’t know better, or the main reason, because they are open late and serve booze.
The last time I was in there they wouldn’t let us leave until we bought more food. Apparently they didn’t think our order was big enough so they sent two men over to our table to yell at us (we were two girls). It was really intimidating and sort of gross to do to get us to order another £6 dish.
I’ve been there other times though where they’ve just been passably rude. Those times the food really steals the show. The food is the same as most of the Brick Lane eateries: sub-​par. All of the dishes are essentially the same with different names. Would give them one star if it wasn’t for the late night vino.

After turning down a free bottle of wine and 25%off the bill, we decided to go to Prithi despite the fact that they only offered us a free round of drinks. I tried to bargain with them, but to no avail. I tried to tango with them, but they were stone still. I tried to woo them with refrains of «with a little help from my friends,» but still nothing other than a free round of drinks. So why in DaVinci’s name did we choose to go here? I’d heard that this place was good — that the food was delicious and that it used less oil than other restaurants. I’m always up for something healthy, especially when it tastes good, just like nutella. Did you know that nutella has more than 500 vitamins and nutrients? Did you know I’m living in denial?
Right so back to the restaurant. First problem — our waiter was damn pushy. Made me feel really uncomfortable — kind of like I was sitting on a chair of pins. I felt them prick me one by one as we each only ordered a main course and a naan to share. I felt him stare the pins in my chair into daggers. I told him that we were poor students and that we weren’t super hungry, so that should do, but instead of being kind, he frowned at us like someone who has muscular dystrophy of the mouth.
The food was good, but not amazing as I’d hoped. I guess it was less oily than most Indian food which is two thumbs up, but iI thought my dish could have been zestier. I had vegetable balti and my friends had lamb korma. We all shared a garlic naan. The naan was quite yummy and their kormas were good. Mine was a bit normal and pizazz –less. Perhaps this place falls victim to terrible circumstance of expectations that had been inflated with helium only to loose steam with the pin prick of reality.
I think the waiter felt somewhat bad, because he tried to make conversation with us a little as we left. The guy who brought us our food smiled, which made me feel more at ease. I like when people smile as long as its not a malicious, my name is the Joker in Batman kind of smile.
Looks like I’ll have to continue my quest to find a favorite Indian restaurant in this city.

I didn’t realise I’d been here until I found the bill in my wallet the other day. I mean I knew I’d had curry on Brick Lane sometime on Saturday morning but I didn’t know it was here. From what I remember, this place is one of the latest closing restaurants on the lane and although I don’t particularly think it’s the best, it’s got the opening hours going for it.
I was with one other person and between us we had two main dishes, something about a Josh was involved in both, and a few naans and the bill came to, exactly, £25.28. Oh, and we had a couple of beers too. I actually think that’s quite expensive though. The food wasn’t amazing, the meat was a bit tough but the tomato base was tasty enough. The naan was nice and warm, so much so that I believe it may just have been freshly taken out its packet and microwaved. Bit unfair perhaps but this certainly isn’t a great curry stop — it is open late though.