Fay Maschler reviews Dishoom Kensington: All singing and all dancing

The decorated Bombay-inspired chain opens its fifth London restaurant 
Deco dream: Dishoom's stylish new Kensington outpost
Daniel Hambury
Fay Maschler13 December 2017

Performances of Night at The Bombay Roxy — described as “immersive theatre created by Swamp Studios” — mark the opening of Dishoom Kensington, the fifth Dishoom in London (there is also an outlet in Edinburgh). I book a table for four lured by the promise of jazz, cocktails, intrigue, hoydenish behaviour, Dishoom dishes and Art Deco glory inspired by the time the location was part of Barkers department store.

Queueing in the cold outside dispels some, actually quite a lot, of the sultry promise and I swerve the opportunity to be “interrogated” in a side room by chaps in police uniform on the tail of shady anti-hero Cyrus Irani, whose “nightclub” this is, in order to join my chums who have abandoned the glass of dismal prosecco included in the deal and are studying the good-value drinks list.

The highlight of the meal served between tunes, chases, biffs and bangs is mutton pepper fry, a south Indian speciality purring with spices and topped with curry leaves and fresh lime, that is special to Kensington — in the tradition of each Dishoom having a dish to call its own.

​Pau, that irresistible soft, snowy-white, butter-soaked pillow of a bun, is also delectable piled with keema (spiced minced lamb with peas) with some of the far far — puffy crisp crackers — crumbled on top. In this we are shown the way by my chum Max Halley, whose mantra for sandwiches in his Crouch Hill outlet is “hot cold sweet sour crunchy soft”.

A final “tipple” and we leave Cyrus to a fate I don’t quite comprehend. I go back to the restaurant a few days later at lunchtime to try the food in normal circumstances — the immersive theatre performances shortly coming to a close.

I don’t think I have met anyone who doesn’t have a good word to say about the Dishoom group. The conversation invariably starts with a rave about the bacon or sausage naan rolls for breakfast made with Ginger Pig bacon and award-winning Shropshire pork sausages at £5.50. The many and varied industry awards for the business include just this year Best Overall Operator, Best Operator for Training and Best Rewards and Benefits from various publications. These pale though beside the charity initiative A Meal for a Meal, whereby for every meal eaten one is donated to a child by way of the Akshaya Patra Foundation. This results in schoolchildren undistracted by hunger, ready to learn.

Fittingly, as we approach 'Veganuary', the more appealing dishes of those we order are veg-based

Two old biddies shapeless in parkas — that’s me and my sister Beth — are led to the very worst table in the room next to the entrance to the WCs (known as the O’Loughlin in my trade). Surprisingly delinquent, we ask to be seated elsewhere since there are spaces available, some of them on banquette seating upholstered in scarlet or turquoise leather. After a few false moves the wish is granted. Am I recognised? We shall never know. What I do discover is that booking for two is doable before 5.45pm and likely to result in more comfort.

Fittingly, as we approach “Veganuary”, the more appealing dishes of those we order are veg-based. Fried baby okra are thrillingly brittle and almost savagely spiced; butter, chilli, salt and lime are all vividly and separately discernible on charcoal-grilled corn-on-the-cob Chowpatty Beach style; chana chaat salad looks a sludge but the components hold their own; Dishoom slaw could work with many nationalities of food and the mayo must contain eggs, but it is effervescent with pomegranate seeds and provides a reliable crunch in what could be a sea of soft.

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Lamb boti kebab, allegedly channelling Bademiya, a well-known Bombay kebab chain, sports dry, over-charred pieces of meat deadening the impact of chilli, garlic and ginger listed as flavourings. House black daal — a signature dish — seems not to have put in the necessary time to achieve serious harmony. It tastes more like something tipped out of a tin. As ever in almost all Indian restaurants bread comes to the rescue. Garlic naan is heavenly.

With a back story attached to each branch of Dishoom it occurs to me that the group is not unlike the one run by Christopher Corbin and Jeremy King where Café Colbert, The Colony Grill in the Beaumont Hotel and Fischer’s each possess a narrative woven into the operation and feature an important clock. Were I to present Dishoom Kensington as a spicier, cheaper, cheekier version of Corbin & King’s The Wolseley, it would not be doing either of them a disservice.

We decide not to have dessert, not even Memsahib’s Mess, but had we chosen kulfi on a stick (an iced milk lolly, pistachio for preference) we would not say “kulfi jam gai” meaning “I’m feeling very cold”. Even aside from the heating and the spices, the warmth of the service means that is not true.

4 Derry Street, W8 (020 7420 9325, dishoom.com). Weekdays 8am-11pm. Weekends 9am-11pm. A meal for two with a carafe of wine, about £70 including 12.5 per cent service.

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