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Zaika is an Indian restaurant located on Kensington High Street in London, just opposite Hyde Park. I stopped off here last September when in London on business and was very impressed with the restaurant which offers Indian cuisine incorporating both traditional classic favourites as well as a few original recipes (I’m only now getting around to posting my restaurant review for Zaika nearly 6 months later).

Inside you are welcomed to a very highly decorated and sumptuous interior with carved high ceilings and double height windows.

The menu is vast, and even for a lunch menu it was quite varied. I chose a Butter Chicken dish for my main. While I was waiting I got a pre-starter which was very tasty. I also ordered a Corriander Naan, and although it was not on the menu, they made one up for me. The main course of Butter Chicken was not what I expected; I was expecting more of a korma style sauce, instead it was a fusion style tomato based sauce and was like an Indian style pasta sauce … Don’t get me wrong, it was still very enjoyable and was served with a light pilau rice. As expected, in a UK Indian Restaurant, the dishes are a bit spicier than in Ireland. The portions are of a decent size, not too large but enough to fill adequately (as you can see below).

The dinner experience here is apparently a very refined affair with low lighting, good music and a more extensive menu.

The one thing which was obvious was the service. At all times attentive and attention to detail and service is very personal – there was a French waiter the day I was there and he was chatty but not intrusive, leaving you to enjoy your meal.

I really enjoyed the food and the ambiance here, £20 for lunch and a drink is a bit much, but worth enjoying a great restaurant experience such as this. Definitely 5 stars for food and ambiance but 3 stars for value as I’m sure you can get an Indian Lunch menu for half the price but you may have to compromise on the end result.

Contact

No1 Kensington High Street, London W8 5NP, UK.
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7795 6533

http://www.zaika-restaurant.co.uk/

I am going to review a few Apps for the iPod Touch and iPhone over the next while. Some apps are pure rubbish and some I could not do without, so here goes.

iKitt App

This app emulates the distinctive KITT voice graphic and speedometer from the classic 80’s show Knight Rider.

To get the most out of the app you need GPS on the iPhone as the iTouch does not display any speed but it does work well and us accurate to about 5mph.

The voice section and lights have 8 x 3 banks of soundbites. Some of the sounds are ones which have no application but some are a bit of a laugh. The updates which they say are coming in the next version include better sounds, a front scanner light and other tweaks.

iKitt App Screenshots

iKitt iPhone App

iKitt App - Speedometer

Next Version

Apparently in the next version there are some additions to the app.

Version 1.2 of iKitt will offer:

- A Configuration screen
- KARR sample set
- First-season KITT voicebox
- KITT scanner light (with sound)
- Randomly timed sample playing
- Many more improvements

District 9
This is a film which has received a lot of hype recently, about a spaceship which stops over Johannesburg, unlike other films where it is always New York and Washington. The story is set 20 years on where more than 1m aliens, known as Prawns by the locals, have been shoved into chaotic refugee camps called District 9. Wikus van der Merwe (played by Sharlto Copley) is not really a hero type, more like an office nerd, and is person put in charge of evicting the aliens to a camp over 200 miles away from the main centre of population.

Spoiler Alert

During the eviction procedures, he is exposed to an alien liquid and Wikus starts to turn into a prawn alien. Because he can now use the DNA Weapons that the prawns use, he is very valuable and is hunted by the MNU corporation that he once worked for.

Overview

The film which is by Neill Blomkamp is shot like a documentary, with news footage, amateur footage, one on one interviews and live footage. At one point it reminded me of Cloverfield!

What I will say is that at some points it seems more comical than serious. Without too much warning it then moves from comic to squeamish. There are some references to the race card and apartheid as well as referencing the attitudes to refugees.

The film has no real draw and there is very little to keep you interested all of the time, especially later in the film when its run, shoot, run, shoot, bang, splat – nothing really new here.

Go to this film if you like

- new fresh films

- Sci Fi

- great special effects

- lots of action

- a fairly good story

Don’t go to this film if you don’t like

- films which show cruelty (even if it is to CGI Aliens)

- People Exploding in a big bloody splat after being hit by laser beams

- squeamish scenes like peoples fingernails falling off, peoples arms being blown off and people vomiting

- a grown man eating cat food from a tin

Finally : Have a listen to the Wikus character pronouncing the work F**k , as Fooock – it gets really annoying the more you listen to it.

District 9 – Official Trailer I had here was removed from YouTube
so the link to the District9 Trailer is available if you click here.

Overall : 7 ½/ 10

I was tempted to give it 6 out of 10 but the
effects are very good and redeem the films
weak points… I later increased the score
for District 9 due to the performance of the
main actor who is in line for a part as
Howling Mad Murdoch in the A-Team film.