Restaurant Review: Bowled Over By Kricket, Soho

With the UK enjoying its own Indian summer, this surprisingly hot evening made the streets of Soho feel more like Mumbai. Thus, it felt like the perfect night to discover the much-lauded restaurant Kricket, a refreshing contemporary dining space inspired by the cuisine of the Indian capital - now with three London locations.

We were greeted with a fittingly warm entrance by Kricket’s cool, casual front-of-house staff, and were ushered into the excited atmosphere of the modern dining space behind them. While being shown our seats, we marvelled at the beautiful enamel bar that winds itself around their long open kitchen, where we could see their highly skilled chefs at work. Hearing a mixture of Farsi, Hindi and English, we watched and listened to this diligent team of chefs proudly at work, and began to brim with excitement at what was to come.

Kricket’s menu focuses on sharing, with a conceptual mix of Indian classics paired alongside locally-sourced British ingredients. With an owner hailing from Mumbai, and landing in London by way of Goa, it’s clear to see how this heady flavour fusion has come to be. Added to that, Kricket’s executive chef trained as sous-chef under the famous celebrity chef Vivek Singh, claiming the very best of Indian cuisine credentials.

First order was some refreshments, an offer we were all too thirsty to take up. Every cocktail, we were told, is given an Indian twist with some Mumbai magic, as we tasted in the Whiskey Chaiball, mixed with a refreshing chai cordial for a spiced finish. We complemented these with some tasty snacks of spicy Masala Peanuts, pairing perfectly with the refreshing drinks, and Goan sausage croquette, which was a molten mixture of soft sausage in a crispy outer casing.

Next, we treated ourselves to Bhel Puri, a traditional Indian starter dish that is often served at weddings and family occasions, and served with a sticky date sauce. Samphire Pakora was a crispy chilli goodness that was light and buoyant, served with a tamarind chutney. Tasty and refreshing, these starters opened up the palette perfectly for the next courses. A familiar favourite followed; a fried chicken dish fit for London’s finest chicken shop, given a Keralan twist. Every succulent bite was both smooth and crispy, both hot and lemon fresh all at once, with an enticing addition of pickled mooli on top.

One of the main events of the evening was the Grilled Lamb Leg Kosho Mangsho. This rich, smoky wonder was packed with deep, dark flavours, that combined into a satisfyingly dense dish that we gladly got stuck into. The real show-stopper, however, was most likely the Hake Alleppey Fish Curry - a light and saucy dish that we couldn’t get enough of. Featuring a perfect proportion of lovely soft white fish in a tantalisingly tasty curry sauce, the dish's creaminess was offset by a burnt edge that complemented its ocean flavour with a subtle woodiness. These dishes were so good, we mopped them up hungrily with traditional breads handmade in front of us in the tandoori oven, like the Garlic & Coriander Kulcha, and Spring Onion Missi Roti.

While we had had a good innings, we couldn’t finish without trying a particular dessert that we had been eyeing up being prepared by their chefs. A perfectly formed quenelle of dark chocolate, topped with iced cream and finished with a salted peanut chikki - a nutty, brittle treat - and peeled orange. This rich and decadent dessert was an authentic taste of mouth-watering Mumbai luxury, and the perfect way to cool down after our hot feast of Indian flavour at Kricket. How’s that!

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