Mera Masala – Popular Indian in the eastern part of city

Indian is one of my absolute favorites – extremely strong flavors, exotic colorful curries, good meat and bread. Even though there are quite some Indian places in Frankfurt, I so far did not manage to find one that really convinces me. Last weekend, I reserved a table in Mera Masala, which is a popular, well rated Indian restaurant in-between Merianplatz and Zoo. It is situated on Sandweg and thus officially in Ostend, however, it feels more part of the culinary scene around Berger Strasse/Nordend/Bornheim. It is therefore not surprising that this Indian restaurant is full on a Friday night. Luckily, we reserved, which was conveniently possible on their website.

Despite the full house, the waiters were very attentive and friendly. The atmosphere was relaxed and comfortable in spite of tables being close together. I especially liked the interior decoration of this place. Much to the opposite of the usual Indian where they go a bit overboard with their decoration enthusiasm, in Mera Masala it looked composed and tasteful.

Mera Masala is not offering the usual curry menu that is available at almost any Indian restaurant, but instead is specializing on more unique dishes from the local regions of the Sub-continent. This is a great idea and the menu intrigued me a lot. There are interesting sounding dishes from exotic places. I ordered lamb in a lentil based sauce and my wife ordered chicken in a coriander sauce. But first, we got the obligatory papadam with different sauces/dips as appetizer. This was already a good start; the dips were really good. Especially the mango chutney was delicious. Soon after, we received the main dishes. Both looked really great and indeed were quite tasty. My lamb was cooked well and was juicy.

Maybe it was my high expectations triggered by the intriguing menu and the excellent appetizer, but the main dish did not fully satisfy. My sauce could have been seasoned more and was missing a kick. I have to say that the sauce of my wife’s dish was much better though. Both of our dishes were marked as spicy on the menu, yet, this was not the case at all. It is a really great idea to serve food that is not the usual curry, but I cannot imagine that the authentic Indian dish, that mine was based on, has so little spice. However, Frankfurters seem to enjoy this Indian restaurant and the original menu is a success in drawing in the interested crowd. Maybe part of their recipe for success with the German audience is to tone down the spiciness.

Style: Casual eatery/Dinner

Cuisine: Indian/Asian

Location: Ostend

Website: http://www.meramasala.de/?file=kop1.php