Last year I wrote a post ranking my favourite Indian restaurants in St Ives. The reason for this was quite simple, St Ives has an abundance of Indians, all of which I have visited numerous times, so I thought it would be fun!

In my list I placed Zzohanna at number one. I was confident of its quality but since I had not visited in quite a few years and was unsure my memory had served me well, I decided to head back to refresh my memory and make sure my post was as accurate as it could be.

We popped in on a Tuesday evening for a belated fathers day meal. We ordered a few beers and sat by the table with the view of the river. There aren’t many Indians that can boast such a beautiful view!

Zzohanna offers two beers on draft, Cobra beer and Cobra’s new(ish) blonde IPA called ‘Malabar’. I have never had a pint of Malabar before, so I decided to give it a try. I was expecting it to be similar to the Kingfisher’s ‘Bombay Bicycle’ IPA that I discovered recently during my visit to Lalbagh last week but Malabar proved itself to be a lot lighter and zestier. I will say, it lacked the depth of flavour when compared to Bombay Bicycle but when eating Indian food like this, I feel that light and crisp is often the way to go.

We decided to have some papadums while we studied the menu. It came with the four heroes of the papadum sauces; mango chutney, onion salad, lime pickle, and yogurt. Each and every one of them was excellent, with the onion salad being chopped particularly fine with a generous variety of cucumber and tomato. The mango chutney, yogurt, and lime pickle were also really good quality and a step above the usual mass produced stuff you would expect from most other places. My only criticism was that the portions were very small, especially between 4 people.

The menu was bloody huge! It was printed on a large double sided A3 sized sheet. The selection was also large but the text was big which could explain some of this. I suppose this would be good for people who struggle with their eyesight?

I remember Zzohanna being slightly more expensive than some of the other restaurants in the area from my last visit but this time it really didn’t stand out as expensive, with a chicken curry hovering around the £9 mark, which I thought was completely reasonable.

My son is starting to get to the age where he is exploring the menu more often and moving away from his usual chicken tikka masala, so he picked out this blinding dish called the ‘Lamb Visal’. This is lamb neck fillet, slow cooked, in a thick onion sauce with ginger, garlic, and curry leaf. All on a noisy and very exciting sizzling platter. What’s not to love for a 12 year old?

My father and I quickly became jealous and kept trying to find excuses as to why we need to try a bit. The lamb neck was incredibly tender and the entire dish had a slight kick to it which made it even more exciting. It was one of the stand out dishes of the evening.

My dad had the Madras which he also thought was excellent. This is his favourite dish, so he knows what he is talking about here.

My wife had the chicken tikka masala which I was lucky enough to try. I thought this was an excellent take, as it was thick, creamy, and sweet but not sickly. There was also no trace of food colouring that can be a common problem with this particular dish.

This stunning piece of artwork below was my chicken tikka vindaloo. This was absolute perfection. It was flavourful, fiery, and the chicken was chopped into big chunks that were also tikka’d perfectly. I asked them to make it slightly hotter than usual but I think they may have forgotten as it felt rather standard spice -wise.

During my last visit I remember Zzohanna did smaller portions than other Indian restaurants in St Ives but things must have changed, as they were very generous tonight.

The saag aloo side dish was fantastic. The potatoes were cut in big chunks but they were soft and fluffy. There was a very generous portion of spinach that accompanied it that made the vindaloo significantly more exciting.

The mushroom rice was excellent and again, portions were generous. In fact, I i may have even left some curry on my plate by the end 😱

By the end of the meal we were presented with ‘After 8’ mints and a wet wipe each. These are the small little extras with Indian meals that used to make them stand out from Italian and Chinese restaurants but are slowly vanishing. This is likely due to the rising cost of doing business ,so restaurants are having to make cuts in order to keep costs down. I am glad to still see it going strong here as it makes all the difference after a very heavy vindaloo.

I can safely say that Zzohanna is still my first choice for an Indian in St Ives. In fact, I feel that it has improved since my last visit! My family were all in agreement after leaving the restaurant too.

The service was good, the food was excellent, and the prices were fair. It is perfectly located by the stunning river Great Ouse right next to the historic Bridge Chapel and the restaurant itself was well decorated on the inside. I am delighted to still see those little bells and whistles that are often associated with Indian restaurants still being kept alive, such as a hot towel and an after dinner chocolate.

Thanks for reading!