Dishoom for Diwali

Diwali is the Hindu festival of lights, which is sort of ironic given it starts getting dark at five in the afternoon.

This year Diwali has gone mainstream having been celebrated last Sunday in Trafalgar Square. Many Indian restaurants throughout London are organising special menus in order to celebrate the festival. One of these is Covent Garden’s Dishoom.

Upon entering the Bombay-style café, the first thing that you see is a list of rules. They include no gambling and no credit given, but fortunately all classes are welcome.

Starting off the menu is a pre-food cocktail the Boom-Boom Bellini, although it is fair to say that it is more Razzle Dazzle than Boom-Boom. Coming with a pre-Bonfire night sparkler, this variant on the classic substitutes the traditional peach juice for passion fruit juice. Although this somewhat reduces the luxuriousness of the drink, it is a sensible choice with the passion fruit not being as heavy as peach juice, and therefore not taking up space in your stomach where food should be.

The two starters of pau bhaji and dahi puri offered different flavours and textures. The pau bhaji was somewhere between stew and soup; the mashed vegetables served in a traditional Bombay style. It was certainly a welcome start to the meal with enough substance to be too overwhelming. The dahi puri were mini puffed bread shells filled with chickpeas, yoghurt and tamarind chutney. Again, these were very charming and pleasingly light, although the chutney took a little while to fully combine with the rest of the ingredients.

The main courses of phaldari kofta ruby and vegetable biryani were exceedingly rich and filling; perfect for filling yourself up for these cold winter nights. Such is the popularity of the Diwali menu that their speciality, biryani, was sold out on just the second day of the festival. Poor planning or just rampant demand? It was hard to tell although judging by the number of people inside the restaurant, it was possibly more of the latter.

The biryani itself was a little dry although the slow cooking helped it achieve an abundance of flavour. The phaldari kofta ruby – dumplings stuffed with vegetables – were a little pallid but were rescued by the exotic sauce.

Finishing off the meal was a pistachio kulfi. I’ve never really understood why kulfi have not become more popular outside Indian restaurants. They combine the best elements of ice-cream with the same intensity of flavour without any of sickliness.

The menu for two costs £17.50, thereby representing excellent value for money. It is only available until November 8, so hurry down before the nights get even shorter.

Diwali 2010 takes place on Friday 5 November.

Dishoom
12 Upper St. Martin’s Lane
Covent Garden
WC2H 9FB

Tel: 020 7420 9320