The aptly names Dishoom all day café aims to bring a touch of Bombay’s faded culinary glory to London’s Covent Garden. Its founder Shamil Thakrar talks to Tandoori

Ask anyone in the know and they will tell you that the London Indian restaurant scene is completely saturated. Whether it’s north Indian style high street restaurants or whether it’s the high-end pan-Indian restaurants of central London, its Indian restaurants galore!

But then every now and then along comes an establishment which makes you sit up and take note. Dishoom certainly falls into this latter category.

An eye-catching location then? Most definitely. Is the food and drink any good? Absolutely. Yet, if you look a little closer it’s the actual concept itself that draws the most attention. Using the old Persian cafes – with some still to be seen in Pakistan and India - that were such a hub for Bombayites, ranging from the upper crust to lowly city workers and taxi-wallahs, Dishoom not only tries to capture the faded glory of those days gone by, but also makes a play on Bollywood, hence the name.

“My business partners and I,” says Shamil Thakrar, founder of Dishoom, “made quite a few trips to India to research what we wanted at the heart of the concept. There was a consensus amongst us that the London based Indian restaurant scene takes itself a little too seriously. What we wanted instead was to open a place which was toungue-in-cheek and pure fun, but with quality food and rink at its core.

So it made sense for us to couch the establishment in those old Bombay cafes which are fast disappearing yet remain such vibrant and beautiful places with a strong community feel to them.”

As Thakrar and his partners admit, they key to the execution was to imagine replicating a Bombay café in London.

“We have all the classic elements as far as the design is concerned,” he adds. “From the oak paneling to checkerboard tiles, marble topped tables, fans and antique mirrors to lots of sepia toned photos of a very nostalgic era.”

In addition, the café which is spread over two floors, also boasts a pulsating open-plan kitchen and floor to ceiling windows. But design aside, there is plenty going on in the cooking too.

Breakfast features amongst other items, fruit roomali and a ‘full Bombay’, while the lighter side of the menu continues with roomali rolls, various shorbas and salads. The ‘small plates’ section includes such Bombay favourites as keema pau and pau bhaji while grills and biryanis – including Dishoom’s own version of the Bombay café berry pulao – make up the rest of the savoury items. Even desserts like the gola ice and kulfi-on-a-stick have a lovely vintage feel about them and the lassi drinks and cocktails an enticing spin.

The formula is certainly good enough to be repeated elsewhere, but Thakrar is keeping mum for now:

“Our focus really is on this site,” he states, “but who knows what other opportunities might come up.”


Dishoom Sample Menu

Breakfast
Breakfast Lassi
with banana, mango and oats
Bombay Omlette
spiced omlette with grilled vine tomatoes, served with toast

Small Plates
Dishoom Calimari
with lime and chilli
Pau Bhaji
mashed veg with hot buttered bread, Chowpatty Beach style

Grills
Spicy Lamb Chops
Rubbed with crushed black pepper and chillies
Grilled Masala Prawns
With lime, tomato and fresh coriander

Desserts
Gola Ice
Like a Chowpatty Beach Gola. Passion fruit and ginger or Pomegranate and chilli
Kulfi on a Stick
Mango, chocolate or malai