Dishoom, Covent Garden, London

It’s a little while since I have written anything for the blog.  Life has been really busy of late as we are decorating the house which has taken up most of our free time.  The times we have been out for a meal we have returned to trusted places I have already written about.

However, not too long ago Craig and I had an evening out in London to go to a concert and we had a meal first at Dishoom in Covent Garden.

Dishoom is a restaurant based on a traditional Bombay Cafe.  As I have never been to Bombay I cannot comment to compare its authenticity, however I can say it’s a really nice place. The large restaurant with its tiled floor has a mixture of tables and seating booths all watched over by the open plan kitchen. Each bare table holds a stack of plates and a tub of napkins and cutlery ready for you to use when your food arrives.  Lots of mirrors and bare bulb hanging lights give the whole place a really interesting look.

The all day menu starts with breakfast from 8am.  The menu holds a mix of small plates, grills, Biryani, sides, breads, soups, salads, desserts and drinks. The general idea is that you each order lots of little dishes until you have had enough.  The food comes out of the kitchen as it is ready.  It’s a bit like Indian tapas.

First of all we had a plates of vegetable samosas.  Two decent sized parcels filled with lightly spiced vegetables and fried until crisp were served up with a wedge of lime and an assortment of pickles.  Delicious.

Next came a dish of calamari with lime and chilli.  Again these were fried until crisp and golden and have a great flavour and not too greasy.  I will at this point say though that if you happen to be on a slimming programme you will have to have a night off!!

Next up came a dish that I ordered out of curiosity as I had never seen this on a menu but ended up being my favourite dish, Bombay Sausages. This was chipolata sausages tumbled in a tasty Bombay Masala (the menus description not mine!). I can honestly say I have never had such tasty sausages and I am going to try and recreate this dish at home (although I am thinking it will be more like Jean Slater’s “Sausage surprise”!!)

Next a dish of house black Daal served up with Roomali Roti bread. The daal is a slow cooked dish of spiced lentils and the bread is light unleavened bread stretched and cooked over a hot stone. We watched the bread chef making all the bread to order in the open kitchen, fascinating stuff.

Dhaba Chicken was served with a dish of plain boiled rice. I can’t describe this dish as I didn’t have any however Craig said it was great.

The last dish was spicy lamb chops.  These were rubbed with cracked black pepper and chilli’s and then cooked over a hot grill until blackened.  The meat was pink and juicy and the spices just right for my taste.  This was my second favourite dish of the meal.

By this point we were full and had left no room for one of the desserts but there was plenty of refreshing and delicious options on offer had we wanted one.

There was no dish that either of us disliked and nothing about the place, the service or the food that I could say anything negative about.  Dishoom is a really good casual restaurant where you don’t need to dress up or book a table.  It would be a great place to go as a group as well as just as a couple.  I would highly recommend giving it a try next time you are in Covent Garden.

Dishoom