DISHOOM (Covent Garden)

Category: Bistro (££)

The good thing about food blogging I find is not only that fact that I can eat out all the time and call it research,but also that I have met lovely and interesting people through it. So I caught up with my favourite blogging friends LoveLeluu and The Happiness Project London at  Dishoom. All three of us wanted to try this so called ‘Bombay cafe’which opened earlier this year in Covent Garden as we were possibly the only people left in London who had never been there before.

Dishoom is fantastic place modeled after the original Bombay cafes in India which were opened by Persian immigrants in the early 20th century and were an integral part of Indian city life for decades. According to the Dishoom website they are characterized by the ‘distinct comfortable look of faded elegance’. Apparently there are only very few original Bombay cafes left in India,two of them are Britannia and Leopold’s (really does not sound terribly Indian if you ask me). Dishoom wants to ‘capture this disappearing tradition’and serves typical dishes for breakfast,lunch and dinner.

I absolutely loved the design. Starting from old Indian movie posters,black and white photos and retro advertisement to Indian newspapers,ceiling fans and and lamps hanging from the ceiling on long electrical cables (we were told they were designed after the lighting at Bombay train station) Dishoom makes you feel like you have entered another world and another period.

The nice thing about the menu at Dishoom is that it is relatively short for an Indian restaurant and you can choose from a variety of very reasonably priced smallish dishes to share. We ordered so much food and most of it was very tasty. There is no clear distinction between starters and main and we received the dishes as they were ready. The Vegetable Samosas (2.90) were light and non-greasy filled with nicely seasoned,slightly spicy vegetables.  They were served with 3 different chutneys,one rather spicy one,one yogurt-based one full of beautiful coriander flavour and the third with the sweet-sour flavour of tamarind.

I am usually not a big fan of fish fingers but I really liked the Dishoom version (3.90) with lovely light crispy batter on the outside and tender flaky fish literally melting in my mouth within. The Spicy Lamb Chops (9.70) flavoured with oriental spices and black pepper were tender and succulent if not really that spicy.

I love paneer and it therefore had to be the spicy sweet mushroom and paneer salad (6.90). A lovely fresh dish with home-made crumbly grilled paneer,grilled peppers an mushroom as  well as salad leaves.

The Chicken Berry Biryani (7.50) was easily the best biryani I have ever tasted. A bowl of aromatic,perfectly cooked Basmati rice infused with different spices such as cardamon and intermingled with chicken pieces and berries. The perfect winter comfort dish actually,delicious.

Least successful were the Grilled Masala Prawns (8.90). The prawns were a bit overdone and didn’t blow me away flavourwise either.

We finished our meal with Fresh Mint Tea (1) and House Chai (1.90). I really enjoyed the mint tea while The Happiness Project London was transported back to India upon tasting the chai.

The service was excellent. We got the dishes explained,told about the history behind Dishoom and were brought myriads of miniature glasses with tab water. In fact this is my only criticism –to serve tab water in tiny glasses (2 sips and it’s gone) and they neither have bigger ones nor carafes.  In the end it seems a bit of  a waste of man power to constantly bring new glasses with water,but what do I know?

By the way,you can’t book at Dishoom but we easily got a table on Wednesday around 8 so just give it  a try when you are in this area,I promise you,you won’t regret it.

• Food:7/10
• Ambiance:9/10
• Service: 8/10
• Value for money: 8/10
• Chances of Returning:80%
• Verdict: finally a restaurant in Covent Garden that I actually like. I shall be back.
  

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• SUDA RICE BAR (Covent Garden)
• HERON (Edgware Road)
• DA POLPO (Covent Garden)