Shanai - Munich

I just tested it for the 7 Euro lunchtime menu. Very good! And they even tried to UNDERcharge us!

Went tonight with the Munich Hash House Harriers, what a great place, food was so good, nice and spicey, and the service was also good.

I've really enjoyed this place. Good spontaneous onion bhajis (which aren't on the menu) and they have a non-smoking zone and if you come in a group they will block off half the restaurant for you and make it nonsmoking too. And the curry was hot enough for Lurker Mark and too hot for Grinner!

Tried this place on a Friday evening and it was completely empty. The food was nothing special. My chicken curry was overcooked. The service was friendly and efficient. Can't really recommend it. Probably won't go back.

Hi All, Here are our two cents on Indian/Pakistani in Munich. We thought the all you can eat buffet at Shanai was tasty and a great deal. The first time we went it had chicken curry and palak with pangas (tilapia) (along with lentils and mango pudding). There may have been one other dish. The palak/saag is basically creamed spinach, but the tilapia was excellent very similar in texture to fried paneer, and the whole thing was topped with fresh ginger which gave it a nice bright flavor profile. The curry was also flavorful and had some decent spice. This is not Indian/Pakistani by our usual (Chicago) standards, but if you can appreciate the food for what it is, this was very good. Also good pappadam, nan and some well made rice (with a nuttiness, cardomon, and a little saffron). The buffet was around 8E per person IIRC. The second time we visited the buffet did not have saag/palak, which is a requirement for my indian cravings, so we ordered off the mittags menu --. I had the aforementioned palak panagus. Griffin had an excellent lamb curry with okra. Fantastic sauce, tender lamb, spicy even -- now we are talking almost Chicago Devon Ave/London good! both around 7 Euro. The mittags menu came with choices of pakora, soup, pappadam, salad (2 of the 4). We had fresh pappadam served with the trio of sauces and a nice lentil soup -- served with a slice of lemon -- this soup had simple clean flavors and was a nice starter. The general advantage of the pappadam (in germany especially) is getting the sauces that can help you doctor any entrees that are missing some zing. Both times we got a complementary chai at the end of the meal that was lovely -- not overly sweet or spiced. Our other fave indian destination was Sonar Bangla, which we thought was fantastic -- excellent spicing!! Great quality -- and I beleive they let us sub a Naan for a rice on one of our dishes. Highly recommended. We can recommend Deeba for their boti (grilled meat) dishes and the gregarious, welcoming and somewhat quixotic owner. He will talk in his phone in the middle of his dining room which gives you a bit of a cabbie-restaurant feel in his otherwise upmarket space -- but all in a friendly way. Sarovar was a dissappointment (much use of coconut milk, not much spice). Nothing wrong about the food -- just unlikely to satisfy an Indian food craving. Of course not quite the same, but our other refuge in times of spice need was Blue Nile for Ethiopian. We only ever made it to Freiheit and were satisfied each time (I love raw spicy meat!)

Fantastic food - the closest to 'home' I've been in the three years spent in Munich. The waiter was friendly and the cook (also part owner apparently) came out of his kitchen frequently to make sure we were well fed and watered. Papad, rotis and dessert with a chai to follow, were on the house. We are vegetarian - so can't really comment on the meat dishes - however if they are at par with the aromatic and delicately flavoured Malai Kofta I asked for, then you'll have a good time. The crispy butter naan is sublime!! Clean restaurant, warm plates - a very satisfying experience overall.

I´ve been there last week with the TT Curry night. The restaurant was not that full, but it is big and the decoration is nice and you can look into the kitchen. The Lamb mint nilgiri that a friend ordered tasted very good and I took a bit of the vegetable filled naan bread of another friend, that was prepared specially on request and tasted also very good. I ordered mixed vegetables extra very hot spicy, but it came only slight hot spicy, that could have been better.

After the rave review I left last time its unfortunate I must write this now. I visited the place for lunch recently - same waiter, same cook - horrible horrible food. Undercooked and poorly seasoned. I was quite surprised and had a word with the owner who was very apologetic and brought us a fresh dish...as bad as the first. So, friendly enough service, however the food in one word - 'inconsistent'. Eat there at your own risk!