It’s taken us quite a while to get round to visiting what I think was the first “outpost” of this London based Mumbai street food mini-chain. When it first opened, it didn’t take reservations and there were reports of long queues and folk being turned away. Regardless of how interested we might have been, we were not going to take the best part of an hour (by car, tram and foot) to get there on the off-chance of getting a table. So, we promptly forgot about it. Then, last Christmas, Father Christmas brought me a copy of the Dishoom cookbook which prompted me to look at the website and, lo and behold, they’d started to take reservations. So now it was worth a try.
Fifty plus years back, I used to work literally round the corner but I’d never been in the building. Well, of course I hadn’t. Until the recent refurbishment, it was a Masonic hall (and Dishoom’s neighbour in the building is a bar and restaurant called Masons). I suspect it’s been a sympathetic conversion, although not really our sort of place – it’s very noisy, dimly lit with tables just a tad too close together. Staff have obviously been well drilled and service is spot on.
Food was exemplary. We started with mini papads which come with four excellent chutneys. They try to recreate an atmosphere of Mumbai’s Irani cafes and much of the menu is given over to small plate dishes representing that city’s street food. But it is a modern take on tradition. So, the house chaat features chunks of sweet potato, along with shreds of beetroot, radish and carrot. There’s yoghurt of course and drizzles of tamarind and coriander chutneys. It’s really good. I’ve no idea how traditional chilli cheese toast might be. Probably not very much but it is delicious. And, yes, it’s cheese on toast, using cheddar, but incorporating garlic and chilli to give it a serious poke.
For one main course, there was their signature black daal, twenty four hours in the preparation. I hate the phrase but this really is a “next level” dish. It’s rich, yet mellow, and very comforting on a chilly, wet Manc evening. I wish more places, of all cusiines, would offer mutton. Here, they marinate the meat in chilli, ginger and garlic as you might expect and then cook it in a thick, clingy sauce with more heat coming from black peppercorns. It packs a punch but restrained by the rice and tandoori roti that we shared. Scooping up some mutton and daal with the roti was a joyful action.
We’d eaten well but did the overall experience beat our regular Mumbai street food place in Bramhall? Nope, it didn’t. Good as it is, it’s not really worth the schlep to get there.
