Dishoom, Shoreditch

Sunday 27th October 2013

Submitted by Murali Para

As someone who usually enjoys going to Indian restaurants in the London Boroughs of Bromley and Croydon, I was intrigued to see what the dining experience would be like at Dishoom Shoreditch in the city. Dishoom, after all, has been rated as one of the ten best Indian restaurants in London by Time Out quite recently, so my expectations were high.

We went as a group of four on a Sunday night for a family meal. The restaurant was busy as many people were celebrating Diwali, so there was a very good atmosphere throughout the meal. Intended to be a recreation of the Bombay Cafe, the restaurant has a distinctly old-fashioned authenticity about it. This was as much true of the mirrors on the wall - which were far from pristine - as it was for the small tables, placed very close together, and the replica film projector just above our seating area. The sparse lighting also worked quite nicely I thought.

There were no poppadoms here and no starters, mains or sides as such. Instead, we were invited to select several different dishes plus rice and naan and share everything. So we ordered Dishoom calamari, sheekh kabab, masala prawns, mahi tikka (fish), a lamb raan bun, house black daal and a bowl of greens for the four of us. All the dishes were tasty and, while none of them had very hot spice levels, they all had subtle, individual flavours which made up for this lack of heat. I tried everything but I mostly stuck to my lamb raan bun and the calamari. The lamb raan bun saw large amounts of tender lamb stuffed into a medium-sized bun with lots of onions, while the calamari were soft and small, slightly sweet and partly covered in a grainy crumb crunch.

The service was also impressive throughout the meal. The staff were friendly and well informed and brought the dishes out promptly. I would have to say that the value for money was also welcome - we paid £28 per person including service - as we ordered a fair amount of food, a round of drinks and dessert or coffee for all four of us. I had some cinnamon ice cream which was a nice way to round the meal off.

All in all, I'd definitely recommend Dishoom to anyone looking for an Indian restaurant with a bit of a difference, as it performed very well across the board