Dishoom is making its biggest menu change ever — with some favourites being axed
National Curry Week is almost upon us, and London’s most popular curry spot is celebrating the occasion in style.
Dishoom will be making some major changes to its iconic menu from Monday, October 7, introducing new dishes and axing a few existing items.
The Indian restaurant group, which has locations across the capital, as well as in Brighton, Cambridge, Oxford, Birmingham, Edinburgh, and Manchester, has shared a look at some of its brand new treats including a dessert made with Terry’s Chocolate Orange.
More than 650 dishes were tested and sampled by the group’s chefs in order to pick the best for the launch, with highlights including a Goan Monkfish Curry (£17.90).
The making of Goan Monkfish Curry
To make it, monkfish is simmered in coconut, tamarind, tomatoes and kokum to create a hot and sour sauce — which Dishoom claims will make for a nice contrast to their creamer signature dishes like the Black Daal and Chicken Ruby.
There’s also going to be a ‘gratifying’ new Chicken and Mango Salad (£13.90) made with spiced malai chicken, ripe mango, broccoli, seeds, and fresh green leaves, dressed with mango, lime, and chilli.
Plus ‘velvety’ Makhmali Paneer from the grill, served with fried cashews and pomegranate.
A new ‘Irani classic’ is also making its way on to the small plates menu — Keema Pau (£9.50). This is an aromatic minced lamb dish, with peas, dill and lindi pepper, served with slices of toasted, buttered pau.
And for those with a sweet tooth, you’ll soon be able to order a coconutty fruit crumble, which features layers of coconut, jaggery (a sweetener popularly used in Southeast Asia), stewed apple, toasted nuts, and crumble topped with a scoop of coconut ice cream, as well as a new Orange Caramel Custard — a Parsi Persian orange-flavoured egg custard served with Terry Chocolate Orange.
Food and drink menu revamped
In addition to these new launches, a few classics have had recipe upgrades as part of the menu overhaul.
The Pau Bhaji (£7.70), made using leftover vegetables, has been given an update to give it ‘lovely new qualities’ and is now made with chunkier veg, to give it more bite.
All the new and improved items being added to the Dishoom menu:
Goan Monkfish Curry – Moorish chunks of Monkfish cooked with onions, tomatoes and creamy coconut, and flavoured with spices, curry leaves and Kokum tamarind. Expect sweet, spicy, tangy, and creamy flavours all at once.
Fish Amritsari – Flaky white fish marinated in spices then deep-fried to perfection. Enjoy it with a refreshing green chutney.
Methi Lamb Gosht and Pratha (A special at the Carnaby site only)– A fenugreek dish with tender meat and a stew-like texture, decadent and rich.
Rara Gosht & Roomali Roti (A special at the Shoreditch site only) – A celebratory one pot dish of lamb shank cooked in a rich gravy of lamb mince, onions, tomatoes and spices, accompanied with pickled onions for extra vibrancy and balance.
Up-to-date Pau Bhaji – this dish now has a ‘chunkier texture’ for more bite, using ‘odds and ends’ of leftover veg.
Keema Pau – Perked-up Irani café classic: earthy, aromatic minced lamb, studded with peas, distinguished with subtle dill and warming lindi pepper. Arrayed with slices of toasted, buttered pau.
Chole Puri Halwa – Chef’s favourite breakfast: chole (chickpeas), halwa (sweet semolina), pickles (which are pickles) and one giant, crackled, puffy puri.
Chicken and Mango Salad – Spiced malai chicken, ripe mango, broccoli, seeds and fresh green leaves, dressed with mango, lime and chilli.
Chicken Kathi Roll – Flaky paratha with a fine omelette layer, wrapped all-about an abundance of chicken tikka, fresh kachumber and zingy green chutney. A most-popular street food in Kolkata.
Warm Aubergine Chutney – Baby eggplants are cooked along pickling spices such as fennel and nigella, and then tossed in a sweet and sour curry base made with tamarind and jaggery
Masala Paratha – Layered and flakey wholewheat bread is cooked in a tandoor, and then topped up with pudina (mint), chaat masala and butter.
Coconutty Fruity Crumble – A sweet mix of coconut, jaggery and toasted nuts is generously nestled between softly-stewed fresh apple and crunchy crumble. Topped with a scoop of creamy coconut ice cream
Orange Caramel Custard – Parsi Persian pudding of egg custard, set to wobble. Orange flavoured custard served with nostalgist Terry Chocolate Orange
23 new drinks
Standouts include an updated Nombay Bellini (sparkling wine with mango and guava syrup), plus a Pistachio Kulfi Cream (delicate green with oat cream, pistachio butter and aromatic gin).
There will also be 23 new tipples available, with 18 new cocktails and five non-alcoholic options, such as a new twist on the Espresso Martini, called the Monsoon Sesame Espresso Martini (£11.50) and made with Monsoon Catuai espresso, Finalndia vodka, molasses bitters, chai syrup, white sesame tincture and black sesame.
A TeeTotal version (£9) will also be joining the drinks line-up, featuring Monsoon Catuai espresso with complex black cardamom and cinnamon syrup, with a warm, gingery kick. Enhances sobriety.
Other drinks include the Permit Room Old-Fashioned, Pistachio Kulfi Cream, and Pitaya-Papaya Colada.
Dishoom hasn’t yet shared a full list of dishes that have been axed from the menu, but it seems most of the biggest hitters (the Daal, Ruby Chicken, Gunpowder Potatoes), are staying put for now — so don’t panic too much Dishoom fans!
However, it seems the Chicken Tikka Roll has definitely gotten the boot, being replaced by a new Chicken Kathi Roll.
Speaking about the menu changes, Dishoom’s Executive Chef Arun Tilak said: ‘Earlier this year, Kavi, Chef Rishi and I embarked on a food research trip to Bombay. So many of us at Dishoom have deep personal roots in the city and dearly cherished memories of our time there.
For me, it’s a place of endless inspiration. Over eight (very filling) mad-dash days, we devoured the city, sampling over 100 dishes a day (really!)
‘By the time we left, we were slightly heavier, yes, but full with excitement.. On our return, we poured over our notes. We sketched recipes, tasted, tweaked, and perfected until we had something we were truly proud of.
‘The result is one of our finest (and maybe most ambitious) menu updates since Dishoom first opened in 2010 — a true labour of love. (And candidly, changing our menu is never easy. It has always been so full of what we might call classical Bombay comfort food, that adjusting things invariably comes with the risk of upsetting guests who have grown attached to things just as they are.)
‘I must confess to being incredibly proud of the newness — the Goan Monkfish Curry is unlike anything we’ve done before, and the New Keema Pau is amazing-amazing!’
