Sunday 11 July 2010

dishoom-it's got that boom boom pow

Dishoom is a new Bombay style cafe in covent garden based on classic cafes such as Leopold's. The interior has little authentic touches, such as a replica of the clock in VT station and 1950's black and white photos of the owner's relatives.
They give you crisps and dips to start, I really liked the tamarind one, just the right balance of sweet and spicy. We decided to skip starters and go straight to mains. We got grilled masala prawns which were big and juicy and bursting with flavour, I would definately get these again. We also got dill salmon tikka, again succulent and moist and spicy lamb chops. All these were hits as were the sides of garlic naan, larded with butter ( I never knowingly pass up extra fat although there is an option without for the more health conscious!). The misses of the evening were probably the lamb biryani which sadly had very little meat in it and the ruby murray of the day, chicken nawabi on the day we went, which I was expecting to have a bit more kick and flavour to it. Wine is served in tumblers, which although authentic does mean that it gets warm quite quickly, especially with the weather we've been having in london lately. Service was lovely, warm and friendly without being crazily over attentive. (Cantina Laredo take notes!)
We got kulfi to finish and it was much better than the chocolate fondant, I would probably stick to the Indian style desserts rather than the western ones.
I really enjoyed Dishoom and would happily go again, although I was sad they didn't serve more snack style food such as bhel poori. But I spoke to the owners Amar and Shamil and they said that they wanted to keep their menu brief so they could focus on getting a few things right and that is a philosphy I can totally get behind.
Dishoom is the noise they make in Bollywood films when someone throws a punch and, based on this showing, Dishoom is knocking their competition out.

Estimated cost of dinner per person about £25 excluding drinks and service

Disclaimer: I didn't pay for this meal as it was a preview evening

Dishoom
12 Upper St Martins Lane, WC2H 9EF

www.dishoom.com

No comments:

Post a Comment