Delhi Grill, Islington 5 Stars!

Delhi Grill, what a great addition to great Indian Restaurants in London. This is a newish restaurant in Chapel Market in Islington, opened by 2 brothers, Aman and Preet Grewel, serving Indian Dhaba food.  All the dishes are from family recipes, with slow cooked meats, roti made in front of you, fresh ingredients and a lot of attention on great flavours.

My first encounter with them was when I wandered down here one lunchtime to sample their wraps. They have a stall outside the restaurant which sells these very tasty curries wrapped in a freshly made roti, all for under £3. There are a couple of choices every day and they are massive. I had a lamb keema curry wrap that day, which had very tender lamb and a bit of salad accompanied by a glass of their mango lassi which was thick, yoghurty and creamy. If you are looking for a quick bite in the area, you can’t do better than this. You can buy your roti and eat it in the shop.

On approching the restaurant, you can’t miss their distinctive blue sign and the colour is echoed on the walls inside too. The decor is not glitzy nor does it follow the flock wallpaper school of design, instead it is has a casual cafe atmosphere with some very friendly staff.

On my second visit, I went back for dinner with a friend. On the next table were an Indian family with 2 young kids who had heard about Delhi Grill from friends and had trekked all the way from Ealing to eat there. They seemed really happy with the food.

This was a good sign of things to come. Their menu is not very long but enough choices for variety. For starters, we had the mixed grill of kebabs and lamb chops. The lamb chops had been marinated in spices for a while and were so tender and full of flavour, so unlike the chewy offering that I had at Tayyabs just the week before. The kebabs were nicely spiced and they served with a few extra condiments including a dish of sliced chillies in case it was explosive enough. It may be a completely different recipe but I prefer Delhi Grill’s lamb chops and kebabs anytime. On the table there were some freshly made chutneys including one made of beetroot, to die for.

We then had the Rogan Gosht, Bindi and Chickpea curry with some side orders of pilau rice and some nan. It was way too much food for 2 people but we did do some damage. My friend who is quite sensitive to over spicing of Indian food was raving about the Rogan Gosht, which was slow cooked to Auntie’s recipe.

The bhindi was nicely spiced and very well fried in an obviously hot pan, resulting in the bindi remaining still al dente as they say on their menu and not over cooked and soggy. Not to be overly gushing but this is the best I have had and if you read my other posts on Indian food, this is the dish that I order at almost all other Indian restaurants. At this point, the button on the jeans had to be undone.

The  slow cooked chickpeas in a coriander, garlic and tomato masala added a nice contrast to the other two dishes, adding a completely different flavour to the meal.

For dessert, we had some pistachio kulfi, sweet and nutty to end a very satisfying meal.

What I like about Delhi Grill is that each dish had it’s own distinctive flavour, the sauces are not greasy and were obviously not from one massive sauce pot. The menu has been tweaked since I last went so I will be back to check that out soon. It’s good honest Indian food at a really reasonable price and Londoners are lucky to have this restaurant. Get there soon before the masses discover it and you can’t get a table or you could always takeaway.

Since my last visit, they have installed a man to make fresh rotis in the restaurant and they aspire to be like this guy in the video below.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QD0-JM-OyM4

Our meal came up to £30 with a couple of drinks. If you thought the food at Tayyabs was good, think again. Give these guys a go and you will never go back to that place in the East End.