Dishoom London: The Trendy, Budget Friendly Indian Restaurant

Today I thought I'd share with you one of my favourite restaurants: Dishoom. 

Finding somewhere to eat in London is always a stressful endeavor. We all love to explore something new when we go to London, yet so many of us fall into the disappointing trap of sticking to the old and familiar. But I myself will admit it's hard to find a balance between the generic, uninspiring chains and pretentious rip-off gimmicks.

You can spend hours trawling through review sites, and never really find what you're looking for, and I honestly believe the best way of finding out about new places is word of mouth. I'd seen a few people on Facebook talking about this restaurant, so when me and the boyfriend were in London in the Summer for our anniversary, we decided to check it out.

I loved it so much, that when in London on Tuesday with my best friend, I just had to take her there, 

The first thing you'll encounter when going to Dishoom, both in Shoreditch and Covent Garden, is the queues. I see queues to a restaurant as a good indication of how popular the place is. Whether it's lunchtime, a weekday evening or the weekend, there will be queues. But trust me when I say they go down pretty quickly and it's worth the wait. You'll be served samples of they're non-alcoholic beverages in the meantime though: the hot chai is delicious. 

If there's room, they'll send you to wait at the bar with a buzzer until your table is ready. Make the most of this and check out their cocktail menu: all their cocktails feature an Indian twist and are made right in front of you. I would recommend the Chaihito: A mojito with chai spices. Embrace the atmosphere, and before you know it your table will be ready. 

The second thing I'd suggest you take in whilst you're there is the decor. I fell in love with it instantly. I'd describe the interior design as following a strong 1920s Bombay direction, with dark woods, coppers, pastels and monochrome. Vintage Indian portraits and paraphernalia deck the walls, and the whole venue has an exotic yet homely vibe. 

 FOOD. Let's talk about the food. I swear I'm addicted to Indian food. It's my cuisine of choice, so I've tasted a fare few curries in my time. The first time I went, I tried their Dishoom Calamari to start. Being Greek, I've had so many variations of Calamari, but this was by far the most interesting. I don't know what spices they put into the batter, but they made it quite sweet, which was then combated by garlic and chilli. Delicious. 

This time round, me and George (the bestie) got the Chicken Ruby Curry and the Mattar Paneer Curry. I'd tried the Chicken Ruby before after being told by the waiter that it was the best thing on their menu, so I had to get it again. 

Both these curries are soooo flavoursome, they'll put your local curry house to shame. The bowls you can see in the picture look small, but I could barely finish mine. The sauces are rich and fragrant in both. The chicken melts like butter in the mouth, whilst the paneer is creamy and soft and soaks up all the flavours of the sauce. We had a bowl of rice and a plain naan with these. The rice is fluffy, and the naan is thin and crispy and lightly brushed with butter. 

This seems like a really cliche Indian meal, but the subtle twists in flavours and the execution of simple things like the naan bread mean it's set way above your normal curry and rice. To top that off, this entire meal came to £11 EACH!! 

I'm sure you'll admit, for one of the trendiest, most popular restaurants in LONDON, whose food is something you'll forever crave after your first visit, that is an absolutely steal!!. 

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Birthday Diary: Zoo Lates at ZSL London

Hello all, 

Yet again I am guilty of not having blogged much recently, but I promise I have a very good excuse.

 As of last Friday, I've had some MAJOR BIRTHDAY ANTICS going on. My birthday was actually on the 28th, but not being happy about having a Monday birthday, me and my boyfriend (whose birthday is on the 31st ) have decided to turn the last week and a bit into a joint birthday extravaganza. 

I really enjoy turning my birthday into a reunion event for me and all my friends. There's a lot of them that I don't get to see very often, and it's just so lovely to have one day a year where they can all meet each other and we can just have a really good night out. 

I researched for months beforehand for some ideas without much luck. I'd found out about the Zoo Lates events last year, and it popped into my head in one of those rare but magical light-bulb moments. It just seemed perfect for the kind of night I wanted. Firstly, who doesn't love the zoo? Secondly, on top of all the normal zoo attractions, there were comedians, animal demonstrations, face painting, wine tasting, acoustic bands, a food festival and a silent disco. However what really sold it to me was the fact that it finished at 10.30. I know that probably sounds weird, but considering I had friends travelling from far and wide, I wanted an event that didn't mean them leaving early and missing out to catch a train. 

I was very lucky to get tickets. The event is only open every Friday in June and July, and tickets for each date usually sell out a good 2-3 weeks before. Unfortunately the events for this year are all done and dusted, but it's certainly something to bear in mind for next year, as it's definitely worth it. 

One bit of advice that I would give anyone thinking of going is that even though the event starts at 6 and gates don't close until 8, get there as early as you possibly can. We didn't get there till 8 and at that point a lot of the animal enclosures were empty (which is to be expected). The earlier you get there, the more chance you have of experiencing everything the event has to offer. 

Despite this, I had such a fun time. The vintage car pimped out as a photo booth was such a laugh, and the pictures you get from it are a lasting memory of hilarity. Loads of people attended in fancy dress, and I saw some amazing face paint. Even if you don't get to see and do everything, the atmosphere is so feel-good that you and your friends are guaranteed to have a good time. I'm definitely doing it again next year. 

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