Nestled in the heart of Soho is a newly opened spot serving up fresh and spicy Indian street food: Soho Wala. It forms part of the Courthouse Hotel and sits right on the end of Carnaby Street, just round the corner from the London Palladium theatre. It’s a cosy little nook, with only 50 covers, but comes with big credentials – it’s Head Chef, Rajesh Parmar, has boasted stints both at the Taj Hotel luxury group and the Waldorf.
The menu is mostly made up of small plates, including clay oven and the full host of Indian breads (always my favourite!). The wine list is decent and is the usual London price range, beginning at around £23.
We kicked things off with some of the starter small plates, and a cute little tray of Pani Puri. These are crisp shells of wheat stuffed with goodies, in this case a spiced chickpea chutney, and served over shots of tamarind flavoured water. The idea is that you pour the flavoured water into the shell and immediately gobble, or use the water as a chaser. They’re a pretty typical example of Indian street food, and have many varieties across regions in India and Nepal. I love eating them in country, and was pleased to see them here in London – I’ve had them plenty of times here without the water, but never with.
Next we moved onto Kurkure bhaji, crispy fried lotus root and okra, served in a sweet miniature street food cart! I’m not the biggest fan of okra, but Chef Rajesh managed to pull it off without being slimy.
Next came Samudri machli, Yuzu infused stone bass with chilli paste cooked in the clay oven. This was delicious – perfectly moist, flaky, and flavoured with the right level of citrus. The only critic I’d level is that they’re pushing it a bit at £10.50 for two small portions of fish.
Here comes my highlight from the meal; their Byadgi murg, chilli spiced marinated boneless chicken. The chicken was impossibly moist – probably one of the best tandoori chicken I’ve ever had.
We couldn’t leave without sampling a curry, and so finished off the mains with a Laal maas Rajasthani; slow cooked lamb in a rich gravy, with a garlic naan on the side. I love lamb in a curry; for me the meat adds more to a gravy than any other meat, and I do love a rich curry.
Now time for a disclaimer – I dislike Indian desserts. Most of the time I find them overly sweet to the point of toothache. The only one I generally enjoy is Kulfi, a sort of creamy ice cream normally flavoured with pistachio or honey. Luckily Soho Wala had toned down the sugar in their Gulab Jamun Cheesecake which was welcome. Gulab Jamun are dumplings, normally soaked in a sugar syrup, and Soho Wala have used these as the cheesecake base, and set it in a glass with a thick cheese cake on top. Whilst I liked the concept, the whole thing was a bit dense for me and not what I’d choose to eat again after a big meal.
In short – I enjoyed the small plates on offer at Soho Wala very much. The presentation and flavour was excellent, and the pricing also reasonable, with the average small plate costing around £4. The other menu offerings were generally tasty, but don’t offer the exceptional value of the small plates, nor the differentiation- you can walk into many joints around Aldgate or Tooting and have fabulous curries and tandoori items, but not as many with great street food selection as Soho Wala. It would make a fabulous spot for a pre-theatre selection of small grazing plates, or a lunch break from shopping on Oxford Street!
Soho Wala, 21 Great Marlborough Street, London W1F 7HL
