Dishoom - overrated?

[Gonnagetgoingreturnsagain]

I had to go away from the London office to the Birmingham office for an away day recently. Yeah one of those forced enjoyment things...

So we had a poll to decide what to eat that night and we decided on Dishoom. I've been to Dishoom a couple of times in London and found it edible.

When I went and ate there this time, honestly, I ate it because I was hungry and we'd booked the table but I thought it was awful, especially because there are so many nice Indian restaurants in Birmingham. What also stuck in my craw was about £10 for a gin and tonic!

So is this a one off bad experience? Have they gone downhill? All my colleagues were raving about Dishoom.

Thanks @Alternat I'll definitely check out Texas Joes.

https://ilovemanchester.com/manchesterchef-chilli-cheese-toast-eggs-recipe-dishoom

This is really good and really easy at home.

I like Tayyabs in Whitechapel. If only for the lamb chops.

I went to the Birmingham one last year and felt it was a total rip off and the food wasn't at all good.

Yep totally overrated and overpriced for what it is. I was really disappointed. In Birmingham for Indian food my favourite is Tipu Sultan, it is excellent.

Agree OP. I don't know how Dishoom got this reputation for being a bit swanky/great quality. I've been to the one in Birmingham 3 times now (only the first was my decision) and each time I've left a bit disappointed. The food is fine but it costs a lot.

Lots of nicer places you could have gone to, even in the city centre! You'll know for next time though.

Haven't been to Dishoom but love Mowgli.

I like Dishoom - sometimes really authentic India food (like Bricklane) is a bit too oily for me.

I really like Dishoom. I don't know where most people live, but the Indian restaurants around here are rubbish. I lived in India and I have travelled there quite a bit visiting friends, etc. over the years. Dishoom was the closest thing to the type of Indian cooking I was used to that I could easily find in the UK (i.e. Mumbai Parsi style food). It is dressed up and anglicised, yes. But it actually tasted familiar and decent. They serve lots of things that you can't get elsewhere at most Indian restaurants, which is what makes them stand out.

I've been to a few others in London that are supposedly good and they were weird British food dressed up with Indian flavours or just bland nothingness.

That said, where we live (not in London), even the Tesco meal deal curry is better, so certainly we are not known for good Indian restaurants here. It's just the standard what you'd eat before a piss up type food.

I think someone was right though in saying that it's trying to be The Ivy but Indian food. I think that is some of the appeal. It's more authentic than the shithole down the road from me that is filled with builders and uni students every Friday, but more approachable than somewhere truly authentic where people get overwhelmed with unfamiliar names and ingredients.

When it was founded 15 years ago it was novel in its dishes and style and the menu included many things that you wouldn’t generally see anywhere else and were very different to the “Indian” food typically served in curry houses. Other places have since changed their offerings so that it stands out less but I think a lot of people have held on to its former reputation.

Authentic Indian food isn’t oily. You need to pick the right restaurants. But this actually rather provides my point - so many people are used to bog standard curry houses (Brick Lane hasn’t been “authentic” since the late 90s and more often falls into the bog standard place because it’s a tourist trap) that Dishoom seems nice by comparison.

You know what's funny about Brick Lane, in 2000 approx I worked around there, and there were a handful of restaurants we actually rated, one was just off Brick Lane in a side street, they've all gone now! But we didn't go to any old curry house and even now, we could go there when we go out there but I've got no idea which one is the best. Plus I prefer South Indian food more.

This was exactly my point! Even the garlic naan wasn't that great and you couldn't even get poppadoms!

Maybe it’s personal because I’ve enjoyed Dishoom, but found Mowgli underwhelming on each of three occasions I’ve been there (the original Bold St branch, twice before expanding out of Liverpool).

If anyone wants to try South Indian food - curries - most of the restaurants in Tooting Broadway are good - can't recall names off hand but I haven't had a bad one. There's also Haymans Gin Factory that does tours nearby and Graveney Gin has a bar in the market in Tooting.

I'm biased though, I just love South Indian food and when I went to Goa and Kerala I was in seventh heaven.

[[https://www.patelbros.com/blog/5-south-indian-dishes-that-everyone-should-try

Same in Croydon, lots of south Indian restaurants there too.

I probably do like rather bog standard curry... I'm quite partial to M&S best ever chicken tikka! And M&S popadoms.
And to be honest, I've not been to Bricklane in 20 years either!

Trends move on don't they and restaurants which used to provide good value food start to look a bit stale.

There was a good article in the guardian about the loss of 70s style balti houses in the UK. People are just not into that any more.

Even a chain which I used to really like - Akbar's, has not particularly kept pace with modern styles. I went there a couple of months back and it just felt a bit old fashioned, the kind of place you'd go with your mum, whereas a few years ago it would have been full of young people.

So places like Dishoom which used to offer a style of food which was new, are no longer new and the whole concept starts to look a bit hackneyed - more Indian restaurants now specialise in a particular cuisine now, or a region, rather than this generic mish mash of stuff.

And that’s absolutely fine, of course! I’m not insulting the more old school curry house, just saying that people compare Dishoom with the (less good) ones and so it seems nicer. Even I am partial to the occasional Charlie Bigham’s chicken tikka masala (just don’t tell my relatives!)

Btw, if you want to feel the passage of time, the late 90s was more like 35+ years ago, not 20 years ago. God I feel old…

We really love the Tandoor Chop House, I think it’s on Adelaide street, their lamb chops are to die for. You do end up smelling a bit of the tandoor oven but it’s a small price to pay; everything we’ve had there has been brilliant. Love the ambience in there, staff are lovely, wonderful flavours, actually I might have to go again over the weekend!
Ive been to Dishoom a few times, meals were fine but the kachumber was absolutely dreadful. Cocktails are nice too. But the food isn’t especially notable imo.

As someone who is south asian, dishoom is a crime and not south asian, its the equivalent to ‘british’ pubs in japan etc.

I really like dishoom - I find it’s a completely different style of Indian food to the vast majority of curry houses. Like Middle Eastern style, but obviously Indian. I enjoy both - but dishoom for me sits in a slightly different category of food. If people have recommendations for similar style places that are better, I’d love to try them!

I don’t rate Mowgli.

I like Dishoom for breakfast but can take or leave it otherwise. My biggest complaint is that they never change the menu. What I would say though, is that the service is always exemplary.

I’m also not a big fan of Tipu Sultan in Brum. I find it really claustrophobic and there’s not much veggie stuff.

Far preferred the building when it was the Jug of Ale.

Already suggested it up thread but Gunpowder. It’s outstanding. Not traditional but excellent. The venison “doughnut”, the okra fries, the Barnsley lamb chop, the ribs and the broccoli are some of my faves there. Great cocktails too.

Seriously, Dishoom is genuinely not very good. Not on the basis that it is inauthentic, it’s just not very good. Poor spicing, flavour lacks depth/layers etc.