Needoo Grill

I think I had heard that this place was run by the ex manager of Tayyabs. One day after venturing to Tayyabs I had seen a queue far too huge to wait for. We then proceeded to go to the nearby Lahore Kebab House. There too was very busy. So we googled and found that this place was of similar train of thought. As I said from the start much similar than you’d realise.
Of course this place is much smaller than the former two mentioned. Overall it was good. But like all three the test comparison is always to get some mixed grill starters as well as curries but it’s al says the starters name the lamb chops that set the benchmark. Here the lamb chops were good. But still nothing beats those sizzling marinaded lamb chops from Tayyabs. If it’s all you can think about when eating then you know it hasn’t surpassed it. It’s still nice tho. Just, it’s not Tayyabs.

The staff here are very friendly and their service is super quick. Grab some beer from the off-​licence nearby and order some lamb chops, you will not be disappointed!

Delicious food, tasty and spicy. The naan bread with nuts is awesome! I would recommend this place to any Indian food lover.
Please note that this is a ´Bring Your Own’ place, which means they don’t serve alcohol, but you can bring your own beers. Fortunately, there’s a Tesco nearby.

We got takeout from here a couple of times while we were staying nearby. It is a short stroll away from the Royal London Hospital and it looks like a popular spot. There were always a few people there with the same idea of getting takeout and the restaurant itself looks huge with ample seating space.
We ordered the butter chicken masala, pilau rice and a garlic naan. As usual for this type of restaurant, they gave us extra sauces and a small salad which we ended up setting aside. The chicken dish was quite different to what we were expecting. We are used to the creamier butter chicken which you get in New Zealand, but this may just be our misunderstanding. (The ‘masala’ in the name may be making it a different dish altogether, but that is just a guess.)
The meal was fine and I have no complaints. The service was good too: the man taking my order was happy to answer my questions about the menu and did so with a smile. It is a solid choice for the area, but not a restaurant I would make a trip for.

Not my favourite…
The vegetarian food was not very good… It all tasted bland and did not look attractive. One dish was swimming in the glee… Normally the Naan Bread makes up for it, here it did not…
The upside is the staff! They are very friendly and helpful. Always ready to help.

We go regularly and love it every time! Great buzz and the staff is attentive and friendly! The food is fresh and comes quickly! It’s not expensive and good value for money! Everything on the menu is delicious!

There was a time where everyone would only ever talk about Tayyabs. Those that know the difference between a great curry and a good curry will agree that Tayyabs has become a victim of its own success. Step in Needoo.
Needoo is basically what Tayyabs was 10 years ago.
Authentic, decent value, incredibly tasty food. The grills are amongst the best I’ve ever had — both abroad and in London.
Just order a Needoo mixed grill and a garlic naan. Sorted.

Vegetarian currys not as good as other places close by. My friend said the meat dishes were really good though.

Extremely cheap for the amount of food you get! Great if you are craving some quick Indian food. They have a pretty wide selection, including a lot of vegetarian options. However, what happened to the spiciness? I understand toning it down, but I Just could not taste it at all.
Don’t let the entrance fool you, this place is huge. The décor is really bright and shiny, full of mirrors (to make it look even bigger I assume). There are plenty of waiters on staff. To be honest, I was more distracted by the nonstop South Asian music videos while waiting for the food… Think I’ll just come back for takeout next time.

A friend first mentioned this place to me months ago when I said that I had been very impressed with Tayyabs. And when I needed a last minute option and Tayyabs proved too hard to book, I stumbled upon the name again and we were able to make a day-​of booking for Saturday night here, which is also just conveniently located around the corner from Tayyabs. It was nowhere as packed as Tayyabs, but the room we dined in had a good number of people.
The ambience is in between the canteen grunginess of Lahore and the relatively upscale décor of Tayyabs. The menu is just well-​used laminated paper and a little gross to touch, but it is short and there weren’t too many familiar Indian dishes that I could recognize. Luckily they have pictures, some parentheses after the name indicating things like (chickpeas) and (okra), and the server was very helpful and immediately named off some recommendations when I asked him about certain things.
We ended up ordering the karahi chicken, special lahori chana (chick peas), and the mutter paneer (cheese & green peas). My favorite was the chicken, which had a lot of flavor, while the chickpeas were very filling with only some sauce, so I’d say that was my least favorite. Many tables ordered the lamb chops and those looked amazing, but it’s a large order! We got the plain naan, garlic naan, and allo naan (which was filled with potato). The garlic was very similar to the plain naan so I don’t think it is worth the extra price, and the potato was interesting but it was only sparsely stuffed and good but nothing spectacular.
Overall I would say that Tayyabs is still my favorite by a long mile but this is a decent option.

I would like to begin by exhibiting an abundance of pleasure… you cant see me right now, but I am smiling and jiggling my feet in excitement!
Why am I so excited, you ask? Well, yesterday evening, at the stroke of 8pm, I devoured a DELICIOUS plate of Lamb Tikka, Chicken Tikka and Lamb Chops! I know I know… how can a humble plate of meats cause so much excitement? Well, allow me to enlighten you…
The meats were delivered on a black clay platter, sizzling away on a bed of grilled onions. My face lit up with excitement, almost like a child as they received a big shiny Christmas present from Santa. My fork was braced in my right hand and without any hesitation i began to ‘dig in’. The chicken was beautifully textured and flavoured, the lamb was perfectly tender and the lamb chops were simply delicious. The difference Needoos and other similar restaurants is that the prices are also very reasonable, and the quality is not compromised.
To be perfectly honest, i love a curry, however i prefer the starters in these types of restaurant, and in Needoo’s the starters certainly do NOT disappoint.
I highly recommend this restaurant, enjoy your visit and i sincerely hope you enjoy the food as much as i did.
Regards,
Hermes Michael Solomonides

Oh yum. True to the reviews. Bright lights, lots of people, simple, excellent food. I ordered the Karahi tarka daal with plain Tandoori naan. Daal was smoky, spicy and nothing like what you get in most other north Indian restaurants. I didn’t realize Peshwari naan was sweet — save that one for dessert.

After reading the reviews on this place I thought I would give it a try. Initially very attentive servuce. I ordered some starters and the lamb chops masala with Okra bhagee and a Pashwarmi naan. I was asked if I wanted them all at the same time, I said no the starters first. Thdy came very quickly and I dtarted, half way through the mainx came and the waiter proceeded to place them on the table! I explained that I was still eating my starters and he looked very put out when I asked him to take them away. I then had a wait when I finished the starter for the rest. The lamp chops were very nice and the naan nice, very different. The Okra I am afraid were swimming in oil and very salty. The mango lasse was very good. I will give this 3.5

After getting my indian food cherry popped in Italy of all places, I’ve been on a mission to find the best. Word has it that London has some of the best Indian food in the world and looked for the highest rated one and saw Tayyabs. Like most people that find Needoo, they probably went to Tayyabs first and saw that ridiculous line.
I’ve been to clubs in New York and Vegas with less of a wait time than Tayyabs, it’s that ridiculous, but luckily Unilocal told me that the former peoples of Tayyabs opened Needoo down the street and although there was a wait, it’s not crazy and the food was still excellent, had the lambchops was awesome. Service was slow

I’m always going back to this place for the lamb chops, dry meat, Karahi chicken, peshwari nan and chana dishes. The chana masala is so good. And of course it’s byob, what’s not to love.
I prefer this place to tayyabs as it’s less touristy and less crazy busy, but it’s still best to arrive early as there can be queues.

Great curry without the queue from around the corner! I’ve been coming here for a few years as it was one of the former Tayyab managers who had opened up the restaurant. Don’t know if this is still the case but the food is definitely worth stopping for. We had the mixed grill and some fish — both lovely and flavourful. We also had an array of other different dishes — some veg, some chicken. Everything was tasty! It’s almost on par with Tayyab’s but just misses the mark. You don’t have that omg, that is amazing moment but don’t let that deter you. The food is great!
One drawback — I’d pass on the naan. It came shaped a little too circular that it made me suspect that it came from a packet!

I felt a little guilty as we passed the blue neon glow of Tayyabs calling out to me but we walked on by and turned right to Needoo’s. I have spent the best part of twenty years locked in an affair with Lahore Kebab House and Tayyabs — each with their charms and faults. But tonight I was with friends and they wanted to try somewhere new. When it comes to Punjabi I don’t do new… why would I?
But Needoo’s wasn’t really new… this was a Tayyabs clone. Done well but not perfect. No queue, no licence and a short menu with the focus on grills. Ticked my boxes. Poppadoms and sauces were very good — better than Tayyabs actually but that wasn’t why we were here. Lamb chops and seek kebabs plus roti followed. It was all fine… but not the real deal. seek kebabs just a bit too pattie like. not enough texture but spicing was good. Lamb chops — again tasty — but the grill needs to go up a notch — just not chargrilled enough. Sizzle plates but no sizzle… not hot enough to make the onions caramelised and no pungent aroma to entice you in.
Fish masala was very very good — deep sauce and fish perfectly cooked — not dried out like I have encountered too many times before. So reason to visit again…
The staff were great. we sat and drank our rum with them topping up the ice. It was great to kickback and take our time without waiters trying to free up the table.
Overall very good — but not Tayyabs and Lahore good. Next time and there will be a next time despite the guilt I will explore the menu a bit deeper and beyond my trusted Punjabi favourites.

I’ve never been to Tayyabs as whenever I’ve been the queue has been ridiculous. My other half has been and he prefers Needoo.
We booked our table ahead and which was good considering when we arrived the restaurant was full. The 4 of us were absolutely ravenous so we picked apart the menu very quickly. We order 2 mixed grills, 4 samosas, Karahi lamb, Karahi chicken, rice, nann, paratha and a glorious jug of mango lasso. Despite being at full capacity our food arrived incredibly quickly. We were all so hungry we devoured the food in virtual silence.
Needoo is very much what you see is what you get, no frills eating. Food is fast and very good. We all left full and very contented. Will be back here again soon!

I am sitting in Needoo after seeing a friend recommend it.
So far so good; my seekh kebab was excellent and service is lightning fast
My chana chicken was excellent too. The only downside is that this place is just as busy as Tayyab’s around the corner!

My third visit here and consistently excellent each time.
The restaurant is fairly small with a few seats in the front and an upstairs and downstairs seating area. Open kitchen and large grill in the front with some of the meats and vegetable dishes on display — all looking mouth wateringly good. It’s also clean, bright and well organised and everyone is busy and active.
Needoo serves Punjabi cuisine (Pakastani & Indian).
Dishes sampled last night included:
— Mixed veg Allo gobi with meltingly soft aubergine, pepper, cauliflower, potato with a delicate slightly smoky flavour.
— Meat biryani: slow cooked, fragrant, tender.
— Baby chicken masala: perfect spicing and flavours with tender tasty chicken.
— Lahori chana (chick peas) which were also meltingly soft and delicious with smoky galicky and spice flavours.
Even the zeera rice (with cumin seeds) was full of flavour.
— Complimentary salad for the table and papodoms at the start.
On previous visits I have also tried the lamb chops which arrive on a sizzling iron platter emitting spicy chilli smoke that was pretty potent. The lamb chops were probably just as good as the legendary Tayyabs, just around the corner. Actually, I think the food in general at Needoo was a touch better than Tayyabs (have only been to Tayyabs once but felt a bit like being on a conveyor belt).
Only possible downside I can think of is that some of the dishes can be a bit oily but not sure this is a real downside since it probably wouldn’t be the same otherwise. This isn’t a diet destination.
A TV showing Bollywood MTV and proper air conditioning add to the unpretentious ambience.
It can get busy at peak times but if you go early there’s no wait.
Great, efficient service too.
It’s BYOB which is good (just remember beforehand since there aren’t too many places to buy beer in the immediate vicinity).
So 5 stars for all round excellent food, service and great value.