VIVA dishes on Dishoom: The hottest eatery in town right now

Dishoom is the Zoroastrian inspired eatery which opened to people literally queuing round the street to get a taste of the delish cuisine when it first launched in the beautifully restored Manchester Hall just before Xmas.

 

Established in London, bringing a blend of street food and Parsee/Irani tolerance, designed to create community through eating and chewing the fat together, this is the first one outside the capital.

 

It’s a cuisine I’ve enjoyed for years from the Zoroastrian side of my family and like the people themselves is a mash up of the best of different cultures that this scattered people have brought together.

 

A sprawling, beautiful site, with a bar area for those who just fancy a drink, then all booths, tucked away tables, nooks and crannies, with wonderful black & white pics and knick-knacks to create an authentic vibe.

 

I’ve been a few times and can heartily recommend their signature Lamb Biriyani, which comes with a crust on to keep the meat moist and gets better and better as you dig down the dish, discovering new flavours in a tangy taste bud exploration. That’s a sharing dish at £16.90 and it is worth a visit alone.

 

 

And while you can go starter, dinner, pud, most of the dishes are small plate style, coming in waves when they are ready – they recommended three per person.

 

There’s smaller smaller plates that are ideal for lunches or to pick at while you decide your choices from under £3. These feature the samosas and patties you would expect and then there’s other dishes which are street food such as the Vada Pau, a kind of version chip butty, we tried but which I didn’t get to taste and was deemed a little bland. The okra fries however, also from this bit of the menu, were beautiful, salty, melt in your mouth.

 

Billy, our server was like all the other staff we encountered, helpful, knowledgeable and likeable and nothing was too much trouble. They do cheese nans – I know, a fantasy dish if ever there was one – and when asked for a cheese and garlic one, they were more than happy to oblige.

 

Highlights of our waves of dishes (the bigger small dishes – is that medium? and roughly averaging circa just over eight quid) were a chicken tikka, gorgeous, smoky and wonderfully cooked and a mattar paneer which reminded me of my relatives’ home cooked treats. This is tomatoes, peas and cheese in probably the tastier sauce there ever has been.

 

 

Black daal, another signature, was good but a little bland for me whilst our other chosen morsels  lamb kebab, murgh malai (garlic chicken thighs) were all good. But the tikka and mattar paneer were just shout out loud, Meg Ryan orgasming, good.

 

Water in cool tin cups is poured and topped up from the moment you’re seated and Kingfisher beer, brought with a thoughtfully pre-frozen beer glass, the perfect way to wash dishes down. But there’s cocktails and wine from £22.50 for a full bottle if that’s your preference.

 

Onto puds (from £3) and you can get kulfi on sticks, or a Raj inspired take on Eton Mess which was deemed delish, sweeter and spicier than the public-school version, while a chocolate pudding with yummy melting middle and chilli ice-cream, was fabulous.

 

 

You can book before 5pm if you don’t like queues or uncertainty and for bigger parties, otherwise it’s walk-ins. For more info and to book, visit www.dishoom.com/manchester/.

 

Viva verdict: Dishoom dishes up authentic and delicious Irani food in a wonderful setting. Well worth a visit and great value.