Needoo, Whitechapel

After a long journey home to London, a plan had been made to have a girls dinner before various people went various ways and there would soon be no chance for another month. A number of places were proposed for the occasion, in an attempt to cover north, south, east and west of London so no one could complain. A few hours later, we ended up in the queue for Needoo Grill. Now, like most people it seems, we came to be here after a failed attempt to get into Tayyabs, that famous Pakistani grillhouse only around the corner. I was actually happy about this, because unlike everyone else in London I have not been to Tayyabs, and so I could perhaps review Needoo without comparing it to the older (better?) brother of Whitechapel restaurants, as everyone else seems to have done.

Although it wasn't snaking round and around the restaurant and out of the door, the queue here was still impressive; we had to wait a good half an hour to be seated, by which time we were definitely ready to eat. We had a chance to review the menu in the time and make our choices: B and I, both determined to find the best things on the menu, had decided we had to have a mixed grill. We chose a dal on top of that, and a peshwari naan. This is obviously the sort of place where things are better off being shared. A however had a slightly different agenda: "Guys, I think I'll just go for a small prawns". Looks of confusion from B and I. "Yeah, I'm just feeling a bit angsty and weird. I'm not sure about having meat tonight." "Right..." This is quite a meaty place. She decided on a fish tikka, which luckily looked and tasted great. The angst disappeared. B and I tucked into succulent, spicy chops and the most delicious Seekh kebabs. The naan had just the right amount of sweetness to complement the chilli, and a trio of sauces for the table provided extra heat and flavour if needed.

The bill came to £26, and the three of us were absolutely stuffed. We had also brought two bottles of wine, which they didn't charge us to drink. Unfortunately only one was drunk as (and this, I suppose is the major let-down of a place that people queue for) the waiters hassled us to leave to such a great extent that even attempting to relax momentarily after eating all that food was not an option. Although there were a few tables free by the time we had finished, they just seemed to have it in for us. This said, on Saturday night's particular occasion I would much rather have been here, eaten some amazing, fresh Pakistani food, and bustled out quickly, than have waited an hour plus for a table at Tayyabs, bumping into others left right and centre (we saw one man's bottle of champagne smash on the floor and fizz sadly away because of the crush), possibly even after being seated. Forgive me, Tayyabs devotees, I know I have to try it, and I know too, that it might be better than Needoo. Might is the operative word, though, for I feel lucky to have tried this smaller operation first, as having a long-standing classic favourite can so often be a hinderance to judgement.

Needoo Grill

87 New Road, E1