The puppets appear to be dressed in traditional Indian costume but none of the staff are in any great rush to explain.

Masala Zone Covent garden is a clean place and huge, with seating for 150 people. The service is friendly-efficient so staff don't have a huge amount of time to talk and nor are they particularly knowledgeable about the food they serve - a drawback if like me you like to quiz the waiters.

Having eaten there twice now I can fully recommend the Ayurvedic thali. Masala Zone restaurants specialise in thali - the large steel tray that comes with a range of small dishes in small bowls.

The Aurdeic thali is special even among thali specialists and the main reason is that the dishes contain no sugar (yes, most restaurants use sugar) and are specifically designed to create balance.

The effect is that a relatively spicy meal is extremely simple to digest. My own experience of Indian food - of all food - is that the hour follwing a meal is usually troublesome. With the Ayurvedic thali - not so. And I came out learning something about which foods balance well.

I ate aubergine, rice, dahl, a mixed curry and a little Indian bread. On the plate it didn't look like a huge meal and I was sure I'd be asking for more - ok so I also ate the mango ice-cream dessert. It ranks as the best dessert I've eaten in years but even without it the meal was more than enough.