Happy New Year! I hope you all had a wonderful festive season and may 2015 be a wonderful year!
I have had a really busy end to 2014, so I did not have the chance to write a review of Dishoom King Cross. But it is never too late to still share with you my visit from November last year, when they launched their new King Cross branch with a 50% soft launch.
Dishoom has been a restaurant which I have been wanting to visit but I have never found that opportunity until hearing about the 50% soft launch. I really have to thank you my friends for willing to wait 2 hours with me on a Saturday evening in the pouring rain to try Dishoom. The restaurant themself was really nice offering us complimentary umbrellas, warm Chai and entertainments while waiting in the queue. But I really think most of us could had waited in the half empty bar downstairs.
After two hours we managed to get a table near the upstairs bar instead of the main dining area. Time to kick off our Bombay evening!
I started off with a rose and cardamom lassi (£3.70) which has a fragrant flavour and beautiful colour of baby pink. This drink is definitely one for the ladies.
Before our mains we started with small plates which included Dishoom Calamari (£5.50). It was nicely cooked but I could not find what was unique about Dishoom Calamari compared to other restaurants.
The Okra Fries (£3.70) was served almost like tempura and we all enjoyed this small plate. This make a great small plate to have with a drink.
Another small dish we ordered was the Bhel (£4.30) which was really fresh to me. This is cold, light and refreshing dish, that contains puffed rice with fresh pomegranate, tomato, onion and a hint of mint.
Shortly after finishing our small plates the rest of our food arrived. We ordered a mixture of dishes from the different sections on the menu and one of largest are the grills. We tried a few and our favourite was the Murgh Malai (chicken thigh meat marinated in garlic, ginger, corriander and cream) which was beautifully cooked with the chicken still moist and succulent.
The other grills we tried were the Paneer Tikka (For those who don’t know, Panneer is a type of cheese commonly found in Indian cuisine) and Mahi Tikka (Asian basa fillet fish).
The biryani section is described on the menu as slow-cooked dishes. We ordered the Chicken Berry Britannia which to me is similar to fried rice. I found it bland and wanted more flavours with all the ingredients it had in the rice.
We ordered the chef King Cross special – Nalli Nihari (with out the Bheja or in other word lamb brain) which is a lamb on the bone stew that came served with naan bread. I actually found the spices slightly too much for me and preferred the Chicken Ruby, which was great with roomali roti.
I wanted to finish my meal with a Bailey Chai (£6.50), but unfortunately it was sold out. Instead we decided to try the Naughty Chocolate Chai which was definitely a naughty drink as it was made up of Bourbon. It is probably not as good as the Bailey Chai to end a meal. But both great for a cold wet day like that evening.
Along with our naughty drink we decided to try the desserts that Dishoom had on their menu. We tried the Pineapple and Black Pepper Crumble (£5.20) which was an alternative version of an apple crumble. The fresh pineapple was apparently infused with black pepper and vanilla, but I could not taste the black pepper. It was probably a good thing more than a bad one. This was a great comfy dessert!
For a cold dessert then there is Kulfi on a stick (£3.20) which comes in different flavours, including mango, pistachio and malai.
Although it was a long wait, I had a lovely meal that was worth for the 50% off. We spent around £16 per person for a meal and without being half prices it would had been doubled. I would not had queue that long if it was not for the discount, but I will consider returning with a table booking.
Hopefully when I do return in the future to the King Cross branch, the service will be better than the soft launch and the food will be warmer.
When you do visit Dishroom King Cross than do remember to admire the decoration of the restaurant because I found it magnificent. You walk in and I felt like I have gone abroad. The one thing I was not keen about would be the toilet which needed some cleaning.
Dishoom King Cross
5 Stable Street,
London,
N1C 4AB
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