I’ve heard so many things about Dishoom the Bombay Café in London. So doing two things that I love; catching up with a friend and eating we headed over to Dishoom in Covent Garden. We arrived around 6pm on a Friday evening, no prior booking was made as you can’t so we were expecting queues, luckily that evening there was no wait time, hooray! We were seated right at the front where we could see the chefs in the kitchen; I didn’t mind our seating location as we could see the chef making the naan breads right in front of us, but the booths for larger parties seemed much more comfortable, then our chairs.
The décor and look of Dishoom is very quirky, although having been to Bombay several times I’ve not seen anything like this out there. Dishoom’s interior is lovely; low lit hanging lights from the ceiling, oak panelling’s, Bollywood themed picture frames scattered around the restaurant gave it that vintage look.
After being seated our dedicated waiter/waitress for the night, told us about Dishoom and went through the menu with us which was nice. Looking through the menu I loved the variety from small plates, grills, rice’s, lassi’s, chai’s and alcohol and got pretty excited. From the Tipples drinks section, I went for Bollybellini which consisted of raspberries, lychees, rose, cardamom and sparkling Prosecco, whilst my friend opted for the Bombay Colada made from pineapple, coconut-cream, coriander, chai syrup, lime juice and rum. Both drinks were lovely and the prices ranged from £7.20 – £7.50.
From the small plate section of the menu we chose the Lamb Samosas, Chilli Cheese Toast and from the grills section Spicy Lamb Chops. As soon as they arrived we were disappointed by the portion sizes, only 2 samosas for £4.30, the chilli cheese toast was nothing special (£3.20) something you could whip up at home, and the 3 lamb chops for £11.50 although presented nicely on the plate, they were slightly chewy.
For mains we ordered the Chicken Berry Britannia Biryani (£8.50), classic Raita (minty yoghurt) for £2.20, Roomali Rotil (£1.90) and Garlic Naan (£1.90). Once the food arrived it did smell and look good, but the biryani was slightly dry, maybe we should have opted for a curry too. By this time I was thirsty and ordered a Limca, one of my favourite soft drinks in India, a refreshing lemon and lime fizzy drink. We decided to pass on dessert and waited for our bill, by this time 8pm it was getting busy and a queue had formed.
If you’re looking for something a bit different from your normal curry houses with funky décor then go and visit Dishoom and see what you think, personally I won’t be visiting again in a hurry even though I did like the concept. Just be warned it is pricey for the portions you get.
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