Dishoom, London

I recently had a short stay in London.  During that time, I was determined to have fish and chips at least once, and, Indian food a few times, as those are the two styles of cuisine I know London does better than San Francisco.

Our first night in London, my companion and I went to a Michelin starred Indian restaurant, Benares.  It was fine, and interesting to see a Michelin level approach to a style of cuisine I don't normally see elevated that way, but, I wasn't really wowed.  So, the next night, we opted for something a bit more approachable, and went to Dishoom, a bit of an institution in London.

During my previous visit to London, several people suggested Dishoom to me, but, I was there only two nights, and went to L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon the first night and another indian restaurant, Cafe Spice Namaste, the second.  In fact, it was with the same two local friends that I went to Cafe Spice Namaste with, that we went to Dishoom with this time around.  They have clearly become my "I'm in London, let's eat indian food!" buddies, which, I hope they don't mind.

Anyway, Dishoom.  They have 8 locations in the UK, mostly in London.  We visited the newest one, which just happened to be around the corner from our hotel, in King's Cross.

If you ask anyone where to get indian food in London, Dishoom will be on their list, likely one of the first places.  If you ask a group of friends where they want to get a drink and snack, if you are near a Dishoom, again, the answer.  Such an institution.  I finally agreed to check it out.

The Space

Dishoom's King Cross location is huge.  It spans multiple levels, with multiple bars.  It is loud, it is vibrant, and, even at 4:30pm when we arrived, it was totally full.  By the time we left, the queue to get in stretched down the sidewalk at least 20-30 deep.  And that was just the walk-ins, as they also take reservations.

Upstairs Bar.

There is a bar upstairs and down, and seating on both floors, as well as outside.

We were seated downstairs, and I somehow failed to take a photo, which is too bad, as the space was quite interesting.  The walls and floors were brick (which, eliminated cell service the moment you walked in) and likely added to the noise level.  The tables were wooden.  Buckets were placed on each table with silverware and napkins, so you could help yourself to utensils as needed, for yourselves or for serving spoons.

About 20 minutes into our visit, one of our diners said he was feeling really allergic.  We soon realized it wasn't that he was allergic necessarily, it was the incense burning that was aggravating him.

Service was ok

Orders were taken on a digital device, that seemed hard to navigate, and took our server a very long time to input each item.  It felt quite inefficient, although, I'm sure it is nice to have orders go directly to the kitchen.  Our server was relatively attentive, good to offer more drinks when she stopped by and saw empties.

We did wind up with a lot of glasses and empty dishes on our table building up, and it kinda became a game to see how long it would take a staff member to notice our growing pile and at least take some of it away.

The only other real thing to note about the service is that our server seemed incredibly scripted.  Nearly every interaction with her seemed like a rehearsed speech, and she said these things so fast it was sometimes hard to catch.

Anyway, huge space, decent enough service.

Bathroom.

You know I only include bathrooms in my reviews when there is an interesting reason to, and, this seemed interesting to me.  The stalls had wooden benches with holes in them, super old school, except, then they had automatic flush systems, as you can see, you just need to "Make waving motions to flush."

This stall was ... interesting at least.

Drinks

Every section of Dishoom's menu is large, and the drink menu is no exception.  Pages of options, both alcoholic and non.  Wine (red, white, rose, sparkling, many types of each) is available by the glass, 500 ml carafe, or full bottle.  Beer in bottles.  Cocktails.  On the non-alcoholic end of the spectrum, there were fascinating bottled sodas from Bombay, coffee and 7 types of chai if you wanted something warm, and of course, a slew of lassis and coolers.

Throughout the night, our group ordered a large variety of drinks, including cocktails, beer, non-alcoholic drinks, and hot drinks to end the meal.  The drinks were all well done, and it is clear their bar program is a strong point.

Viceroy's Old Fashioned. £9.00.

"The sort of drink in which Lord Mountbatten may have found welcome repose. A bottle-aged muddle of Woodford Reserve bourbon, bayleaf reduction, green tea and so on. Like an old Raj club-room, with tertiary colours and artistic composition."

I can't entirely say what inspired me to order the Old Fashioned, but, I did.  I was shocked by the way it was served.  I was brought a classic old fashioned tumbler with a large ice cube in it, garnished with a bay leaf and olive on a skewer and ... a little bottle of the old fashioned, to pour myself.  Is this a thing in India? I have no idea.

This turned out to be nice actually, as I realized that I could pour a little, drink a little of it super strong, let the ice cube melt a little to mellow it out, and then pour more, and get right back to the strong version.  It was kind of fun to play with watering it down or not this way to see how the flavor changed.

It was also really just quite tasty. The flavors were deep and developed.  I didn't necessarily taste bayleaf or green tea, but it was clear that there was a lot going on in the drink.  A really wonderful sipping cocktail.

The only complaint I have is the annoying leaf-on-a-skewer.  It made it impossible to drink, as the leaf would fall forward and block the cup.  I also didn't think an olive really went with it.

I'd definitely get this again.

Fresh Sugarcane Juice. £4.00.

"We press the large sticks of cane into juice. With lime and salt, as it should be."

One person was super thirsty and wanted a refreshing drink, so he eagerly ordered the sugarcane juice, thinking fondly of sugarcane drinks we had in Sydney.

He wasn't such a fan of the added lime and salt, and really just wanted sugarcane juice, but, he was happy enough with it, or thirsty enough, that he drank the whole thing before I had a chance to ask for a sip.

Virgin Bombay Colada. £3.90.

"The classic pineapple and coconut-cream concoction with a Bombay twist: a little coriander, chai syrup, lime juice."

For his second drink, the sugarcane guy selected the virgin Bombay Colada, an attempt to make up for the totally non-colada colada he had the night before at Benares.

This one was a much closer interpretation of a colada, as it actually had pineapple and coconut, and, not banana and raspberry.  It was a slushy, frothy, icy drink.

He liked it at first, but said it was too sweet and too much for more than a few sips, so he discarded it, leaving it to me.  To be fair, you don't normally pair a piña colada with a meal, right?  These kind of slushy drinks are best suited for pool decks or beachside ...

I thought it was quite good.  Yes, it was fruity and very sweet, but I thought the coriander and lime on the finish made it almost refreshing, the herby nature was really quite fascinating in a creamy drink.  On top was something we couldn't quite identify.  I thought it was pink peppercorn, he thought it was candy.

If you like piña coladas, this was a fun take on it, and, also available with rum.

Savory Cuisine

Extensive Menu!

The Dishoom menu is rather intimidating in size.  It is broken into many sections: Small Plates, Salad Plates, Ruby Murray (curry), Veggie Side Dishes, Grills, Biryani, Bread & Rice, Frankies & Roomali Rolls, and, of course, puddings.  There are also dishes called out in boxes and highlighted, not necessarily part of any category, but instead features of the restaurant.

We skipped the salads (although if we ordered one more dish I was interested in the paneer & mango salad, with fresh mango, crispy shallots, and crispy naan strips), we skipped the curries, and we skipped the Frankies & Roomali Rolls (naan or roti rolls, which sounded interesting, but not necessarily sharable).

Chutney: Tamaraind, Mint, Chili.

Once we ordered, a trio of chutneys was brought out.  I didn't find any of them remarkable, besides that the chili one (orange) was quite spicy.  Still, it was nice to have things to dip into and amp up our flavors a bit.

Small Plates

As is often the case, the small plates menu held a lot of appeal for me.  I tried unsuccessfully to excite the group about the chili cheese toasts (seriously, why didn't they want melty cheese and chili on toasts?  It looked so good!).  They also had standards like several types of samosas, and a bunch of buns {what are these style dishes called?}

Okra Fries. £4.20.

"Fine lady’s fingers for the fingers."

Since we arrived on the early side to avoid the lines, and were seated earlier than we actually wanted dinner, one member of our party suggested just ordering something to munch on while we figured out what we really wanted, and while we had some cocktails to start.  He selected a random munchie from the small plates menu: okra fries.

I can't say I was excited about okra fries, but, they turned out to be pretty interesting.  The fries were super crispy, not oily, and the okra wasn't at all slimy.  The batter was spicy and quite flavorful.  One diner said it reminded her of Popeye's batter (and this was a good thing).

Everyone enjoyed dunking these in the chutneys, and, I'll admit, I prefer them to papadams at least.  Still, not quite my thing.

One person declared that this was the first time he ever actually liked okra.  As in, ever in his entire life.  He, and the other two diners, all rated this the second best dish of the night.

Dishoom Calamari. £5.90.

"Tiny tender squid, grainy crumb crunch, quick-fried and tossed into a bowl with Dishoom drizzle. "

I lobbied for the calamari once we were ready to start ordering for real (well, first I lobbied for the chili cheese toast, but, when that failed, the calamari was my next choice).

I'm not necessarily a huge fan of calamari, as very often it is rubbery, or just a very generic dish to order, but, I read many positive reviews of Dishoom's version, and they even put their name in the title of the dish, so it must be a signature item for them.

It was pretty good calamari.  The coating was different from the okra, as it had breadcrumbs and it wasn't spicy, but, like the okra it was made fresh to order, nice and crisp, and not too oily.  Our little pot had assorted types of pieces, including some little tentacles.

My favorite element of this was the "Dishoom drizzle", a really tasty sweet sauce that was drizzled over the top.  I carefully aimed to grab pieces that had the delicious drizzle on them, but, there were many pieces without. The sauce on the side may have been more successful.

Overall, good for calamari, slightly non-standard, and my second favorite savory dish.

Veggie Side Dishes

Veggie side dishes were an odd assortment: a simple kachumber salad, a bowl of grilled greens, slaw, and raita.

Dishoom Slaw. £3.20

"A kachumber with shredded cabbage, pomegranate seeds and mayonnaise. Fresh, feisty, crunchy."

I really love slaw of all varieties ... as long as they are mayo based.  And, after my week in Munich, I wanted vegetables.  So, I advocated for the slaw, as strange as that is as something to get at an indian restaurant.  It was one of only a handful of dishes, like the calamari, with Dishoom in the name, so, clearly it is a signature item.

It was good.  The cabbage was indeed fresh and crisp.  The pomegranate was a fun twist, although there wasn't much of it, just a sprinkle on top.  

It was super creamy, very, uh, dressed in mayo.  Which of course I like, but, beware if you are expecting something lighter.

I'm not sure how this is an indian dish, or how it really went with our food (besides the fried calamari, which, I guess is also not really indian ...), but, I liked it.  My favorite dish of the night.

Black House Dal. £5.90.

"A Dishoom signature dish — dark, rich, deeply flavoured. It is simmered over 24 hours for extra harmony."

The dal wasn't actually listed as part of the sides, but it also wasn't listed in any other category, so, I'm just going to put it here.

I hate lentils, and obviously wanted nothing to do with the dal, but, it was called out on the menu in a box as a very special item, and, the others all wanted it.

I tried a bite out of good measure, willing myself to like lentils, but, alas, no.  Interestingly, it was the spicing I hated more than the lentils themselves, which is too bad, as the sauce was quite creamy and would have been nice to use to dunk my naan into.

Everyone else though ... loved it.  "I really like the dal!", one diner kept saying over and over.  The others all declared it their favorite dish of the night.

Grills

"First comes the marinade, then the open-air grill. Picture Bademiya in Colaba, a Bombay institution since 1942. A balmy night, with newspapers laid out on old car bonnets. You eat. Savour. Spill."

The grills is probably the most extensive part of the menu, besides the small plates.  The grill selection has multiple types of chicken, multiple types of lamb, prawns, mahi, paneer, and, potatoes.

Paneer Tikka. £7.70.

"Paneer is vegetarian first-class fare and a subtle cheese to make. Marinated then gently charred with red and green capsicums."

I love paneer, and, we clearly needed to pick at least one paneer dish.  Since my mango and paneer salad was ruled out, the only options were the mattar paneer curry or the paneer tikka.  The only memorable item from Benares the night before was the grilled paneer, and really, I just wanted more of that.

This was not that.  Yes, the paneer was grilled, but, it didn't have any smoky awesomeness, nor crispy charred exterior.  Along with the four chunks of paneer was a chunks of red pepper and three green peppers.  They kinda had a film on them from the contact points with the paneer that was a bit odd.

Also on the plate was a lime to squeeze over, and a rather ridiculous tangle of cilantro.

None of us really liked this, and it went unfinished.

Biryani

"Slow-cooked, layered and aromatic, the Biryani traces its origins to Iran — as does the old Bombay Café. A pot is to be shared, or kept as spicy contentment all for oneself."

Dishoom has 3 different biryani to offer: chicken, lamb, or veggie.

Awadhi Lamb Biryani. £9.90

"The lamb is prepared with stock and spices, then layered with rice and cooked in traditional ‘dum’ style."

I don't like rice, I don't like lamb, so this clearly wasn't for me.  The others all wanted a biryani, and, since I don't really care for rice, I decided to not voice my opinion on which variety.  They all wanted lamb, so, lamb it was.

They were not impressed.  "This is not what I expect from a biryani", one said.  "There isn't a lot of flavor in this", said another.  They also were disappointed by the very meager amount of lamb in it.

I however, did find something I liked about this dish.  The cooking vessel was sealed with dough.  This wasn't really meant for us to eat, I'm sure, and it was totally undercooked and dough-y.  Just dough.  Not pie crust, but, dough.  And ... I really liked it.

I know I'm a complete weirdo for this, and I can't explain it.  Undercooked plain dough.  Perhaps my favorite bite of the night?  I'm really not joking.  I'm glad my table mates put up with me digging all the dough off the rim of the dish.

Bread & Rice

"All breads are made by hand and baked to order."

And finally, breads and rice.  Not a huge selection, just plain steamed basmati rice, naan (plain, garlic, cheese), and a single type of roti.  Some kind of bread is a must-have for me and indian food

Garlic Naan. £2.50.

"With minced garlic and coriander sprinkle. "

We ordered garlic naan with our original order, but, once we saw it was only a single piece cut in half, we quickly ordered a cheese naan too (which, one person had wanted anyway).

The garlic naan was fine, fresh and hot, nicely buttered, with plenty of visible garlic bits.  It somehow lacked any real oomph for me, but, perhaps that is because I wanted a sauce to dip it in, and, I failed to order a curry, and only had the dal sauce that I didn't like.

Cheese Naan. £3.20.

"Cheddar is melted inside."

Our cheese naan was delivered pretty quickly after we ordered it, while we still had plenty of food left.  Points to them for that.

The cheese naan was pretty good, stuffed with plenty of melty cheese, and enjoyable enough of its own.

Everyone preferred this naan.

Puddings

Of course, for me, the most exciting part of a menu is the dessert, or, puddings in Britain.  Here we had a few options, including many frozen items like kulfi on sticks that many other tables ordered, interesting flavors of ice cream, and a really crazy ice based dessert, "kala khatta gola ice" with ice, kokum fruit syrup, blueberries, chilli, lime, and salt.  We opted for the warm desserts however.

House Chai. £2.50.

"All things nice: warming comfort and satisfying spice. Made in the proper way. All who have tried it are swearing by it."

While we were waiting for dessert, they brought us 3 complimentary chais.  If it were daytime, I would have loved this since I do like chai, but, at night, I didn't want the caffeine, nor did one other person.  So, the fact that they brought 3 for 4 people wasn't a problem.

I did sip a little of it though, and had to force myself not to have more.  It was tasty, warm, creamy, comforting, well spiced.  Good chai.

Decaf Americano. £2.70.

To pair with dessert, I did opt for a decaf americano, my classic bitter pairing with sweet dessert.

It was served with brown sugar in a cup, another cup with a little spoon, and a little pitcher of steamed milk.  I don't generally use milk in my coffee, but appreciate the touch of the steamed warm milk rather than cold milk that would chill my coffee.

The coffee was good, quite strong, and somewhat made me question if it was possibly decaf.  Still, I enjoyed it.

Dishoom Chocolate Pudding. £6.90.

"Melting-in-the-middle chocolate pudding served with a scoop of Kashmiri chilli ice cream. You will not want to share. "

One diner planned to get the chilli ice cream for us to share, but our server recommended the chocolate pudding, saying it was her favorite (in her very scripted sense, I think it was something along the lines of "Would you like to order dessert?  My favorite is the chocolate pudding", said as one breath).

So, he decided to upgrade to the pudding rather than just the ice cream, since it came with the chilli ice cream anyway.  As an ice cream lover and pudding lover, I supported this move.

At least, it was supposed to come with the aformentioned chilli ice cream.   Instead, it had the cinnamon ice cream, their other ice cream offering.  Perhaps this was a mistake?  Perhaps they ran out and didn't bother mention the substitution?  Either way, disappointing for us, since we wanted to try the chilli ice cream.

The ice cream was fine, besides being the wrong flavor, but wasn't really remarkable in any way, not particularly creamy nor rich.

The pudding was a warm chocolate pudding ... in the British sense of pudding.  One person was expecting american pudding, not this.  It was more like a molten chocolate cake.  The interior was goo, the top was a thicker custard.  It was dark, and fairly rich, but somehow not very chocolately.

We were all underwhelmed with this dessert.  It was just a standard molten chocolate cake and generic ice cream, no more, no less.  Fine, but, it went unfinished.

Pineapple & Black Pepper Crumble. £5.50.

"Tangy fresh pineapple infused with black pepper and Keralan vanilla, bedded beneath a layer of crumble topping. Served warm, with custard on the side."

I had my eye on the crumble of course, as I love crumbles, even though pineapple would never be my first choice of fruit.

It too was served hot, which I appreciate.  The base was pineapple, warm, soft, and really quite sweet.  It was fine for what it was.

The crumble on top added a good crunch, and had some doughy bits which I liked, but, none of us tasted any black pepper.  Not that we necessarily wanted to taste black pepper, but, that is what made this dish sound unique.

Of course, I loved the hot custard on the side.  We poured a little over it to let it soak in.  Then we poured on more and more.  The custard was good, rather thin at first when it was hot, but it thickened as it cooled.  It had good vanilla flavor, clearly real vanilla not extract.

I was happy enough with this dessert, but, I can't say I'd get it again.  My favorite aspect was the pitcher of custard, which of course I finished myself.

So, like the chocolate pudding, this was just fairly standard.  Fruit topped with crumble, no particularly spicing, no real pop to it, but at least it was warm.