Afghanistan - Mesa Restaurant, HA3

Restaurant: Masa
Location: 24-26 Headstone Drive, Harrow & Wealdstone, HA3 5QH
Date of visit: 10 October 2009
Time of visit: 8.30pm
Steve and Elle ate: Couples Special - 1 skewer of chicken wings, 2 skewers of lamb kobeda, 1 chicken karahi, 1 challow rice, plain naan, salad

We kicked off the A to Z of London international restaurants with Masa, a small Afghan restaurant not too far from the High Street in Harrow & Wealdstone. As we walked in, it became immediately clear that it was popular - the place was rammed, and lively. In fact, Steve's first thought was "they don't have any tables", despite us booking a table for two through Top Table. With no one at the door to greet us, we ventured a little further into the restaurant, and managed to catch the attention of a waitress behind the counter who was also dealing with other customers. Steve mouthed, and gestured, across the restaurant that we had booked a table for two. She acknowledged that, and pointed to a table in the far corner.

We took a seat, and wait for menus. Masa has no alcoholic drinks licence, so we plonked a bottle of our own-bought wine on the table. We took a few moments to look around the room, and it was clear that the waitress (yes, singular...at least for the first 10 minutes or so) was really struggling under the pressure of the customer requests (we reckon there was around 35 people in the restaurant - so she was being spread extremely thin).

Fifteen minutes had passed, and we were still waiting for a menu, and getting a little bored of looking at an unopened bottle of Pinot Grigo (there's a lot to be said for screw-capped bottles). Elle approached the counter and asked if we could have some menus, which finally came a couple of minutes later. At this point, we also asked if we could have a bottle opener.

The menu was well laid out and informative, if not a little battered. The food is very decently priced, with the majority of the mains between £6 and £8. Having waited the time we had to be seen to, we couldn't help notice the note on the menu that a 12% service charge would automatically be added to the bill.

Another fifteen minutes passed and no one had taken our order. When I spotted another table being seen to, after arriving only ten minutes before, it was time to approach the counter again. The waitress apologised and finally came to take our order. We took the opportunity, again, to ask for a bottle opener (I think Steve may have been shaking by this point - we should've at least put the wine out of sight in the mean time). A few minutes later, in a rush, the waitress dropped a corkscrew onto our table, leaving us to open it ourselves.

The food arrived half an hour later (which didn't seem anywhere near as long now that the wine was open). All of the food arrived at once. Well, at least we thought it did. Halfway through eating, Steve realised that the naan bread hadn't arrived. Again, we caught the attention of a waiter (which was a little easier now that the restaurant had emptied a little), and he apologised and promptly brought the bread to the table.

So, to the food. The chicken wings and lamb kobeda came out on a large plate with the salad, with another large plate of rice, and a bowl of chicken karahi. The karahi portion was a little on the small side, but the portion of rice, along the with chicken and lamb was quite the opposite. The chicken wings, cooked skewered on an open grill, were plump with great slightly spicy seasoning. The lamb kobeda was similarly impressive, similar to a lamb kofte kebab in style and taste. The chicken karahi was very good, with large succulent chunks of chicken breast in a light brown sauce. The sauce was fairly spicy but seemed to lack much in the way of vegetables. This wasn't to the detriment of the meal overall though. The rice was very well cooked, not too dry, with yellow grains added for presentation.

The food certainly made up for the slightly drawn out events preceeding it. Nonetheless, we were never asked if we wanted anything to drink, including water, during the meal and were not offered a desert menu afterwards, despite seeing menus on other tables and the restaurant being somewhat quieter.

And, as was the way, we had to approach the counter ourselves to pay the bill. Although we spotted it early on, the fact that the card machine wasn't working might have been an inconvenience to others at this stage. And, indeed, a service charge was automatically added to the bill, although it worked out as 10% rather than 12%.

Overall, it wasn't an unpleasant experience by any means, but the delays were frustrating to an extent. But it was clear to see the reasons behind it, and we could sympathise with the waiting staff as they rushed around assisting the customers without even a pause for breath from the time we entered the restaurant to the time we left. And the food was of a high quality. Add a couple more waiting staff to the roster, and there would have been very few negative points to the visit.

Next month, we try out Albanian cuisine.

Good: High quality food, good value for money, lively authentic atmosphere
Bad: Understaffed leading to slow service, non-discretional service charge

Cost of meal: £22 (excluding wine)