Dishoom Restaurant Review – Bombay style café located in Covent Garden
Dishoom
Reviewed by Julia Pearson
Bombay style café located in Covent Garden
From the minute I walked into Dishoom I liked it. I liked the booths and chairs, the photographs of the owners’ families lining the walls, my god they have big families, the dark wood décor, open kitchen and the incense burning in the toilets. Yes I liked it all and I hadn’t even ordered any food yet. Dishoom is a Bombay style café located in Covent Garden, it is the latest addition to a row of restaurants and counts Jamie Oliver’s Italian as its neighbour.
Given its location Dishoom could be expensive but it is refreshingly cheap and that’s one reason why it will always have a steady trade. The other, the most important to you and me is the food. The menu is styled on traditional Bombay cafés and all of the food is served together rather than in separate courses. The menu has a good selection without being over expansive. We started off with some signature cocktails the Chaijito and Bollybellini, both costing under £6. To eat we ordered the House Crisps, Cottage Cheese Ruby Murray, Masala Prawns, Rice, Roti, Vegetable Samosas, Salad and Fish Fingers. It sounded like way too much food for two people but the waiter was actually surprised we weren’t ordering more. The food arrived extremely fast and the dishes seemed to never end.
Everything was homemade, even the crisps. The Masala Prawns were the clear winners, thick, juicy and spiced to perfection. The Desi Fish Fingers were a nice surprise, flaked fresh fish in a spiced batter, something I would definitely order again. For desert we opted for the seasonal fruit crumble which was pineapple served with Chai ice cream. The crumble was sweet without being over powering and the chai ice cream was a great touch. We ended the meal with a House Chai and Chai Chocolate. The Chai is made from scratch and brewed for at least forty minutes. The whole meal was pleasant, tasty and fresh. At only £49 everything including two cocktails, it really is great value for money. Next time I will try the breakfast menu, I have heard the Sausage and Bacon Naans are worth the trip alone.
Dishoom, 12 Upper St Martins Lane, London, WC2H 9FB??
About Julia Pearson:
Julia Pearson has travelled the world tasting the best dishes from every continent. She is now living and eating in London and her mission is to find the best restaurants and share them with you, our readers! She knows just how frustrating it can be visiting a new town or trying a new restaurant when the food is not up to scratch and it is her personal goal to stop that happening to the public by giving honest, genuine reviews!
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From Jay Rayner’s experience there:
Other than that, oh dear. Bombay sausages are what you would get if a mildly ambitious home cook decided they wanted to make Indian food but only had a pack of chipolatas to hand. It was, as we call it in the restaurant reviewing trade, A Very Bad Idea. Their cheesy naan promising “melted cheddar inside” sounded awful, which is was why I ordered it. They lived down to my expectations. It is the kind of thing made by drunken students at 3am when all they have is the remains of yesterday’s takeaway and a hunk of Cathedral City. (The plain naan was better.) Their house black daal lacked depth and finesse. Worst of all, under the knowing “Ruby Murray” heading – a house curry of the day – was a sludge of puréed spinach and paneer, which looked like something that had come out of the wrong end of a baby who had just had a change of diet.
We passed on desserts – mostly just iced things in bowls or on sticks. Even so, with a couple of pleasing non-alcoholic cocktails, we ran up a bill of £56. So if you had a bottle of wine or beers you would quickly be paying £70 for two, which is quite a lot more than your high street curry house. And for what exactly? Better cooking? No, not often. Nicer service and more of a buzz? Well yes, I suppose so. If this is what you look for in a restaurant, then you can happily anticipate the arrival of a Dishoom in your neighbourhood. The rest of us will look to get our Indian jollies elsewhere.
More stuff from Jay’s review:
“The chicken biryani, cooked in a pastry-sealed pot, was terrific on the aromatics, the waft of cardamom, clove and turmeric hitting my olfactory bulb before a mouthful met the tongue, though it was a little dry. Their dark, pungent sticky lamb chops rubbed with black pepper and chillies were very good indeed, the outside deeply charred, the meat still pink. I would come back here for a plate of these. Or perhaps two, maybe three with a friend.”
Actually, I think Jay was dead wrong in his criticisms (although right about the lamb chops!) and that Julia hits the nail on the head. This is a great place – food outstanding, atmosphere fantastic and the design very interesting. Service could be faulted for being a bit overwhelming, but that will probably settle.