Brunch at Dishoom, London

There’s something about Sunday mornings in the city that just cry out for brunch.

It’s become more of a Thing in recent years, hasn’t it?

Young trendy people in cities love brunch. We love it. (Note how I have unapologetically and perhaps inaccurately included myself in the field of “young and trendy” there).

In the countryside, people don't do brunch. Well, they don't where I live. Sorry, lived. (Tee hee I live in London now!) You have to drive everywhere and no one can be bothered to leave their Agas in their big country kitchens.

London, however, is a haven for brunch-lovers. And I spent my first Sunday in the big city as I mean to go on: with a long, leisurely brunch.

Well, I shall brunch as much as my salary allows anyway.

Late Sunday morning, I made my way into central London to Dishoom's Carnaby branch, right by Oxford and Regent Streets, for a celebratory birthday brunch for Rachel (not myself in the third person. This Rachel from the pancake feast a couple of posts ago.) Happy birthday, Rach!

Have you heard of Dishoom? It's très popular and I've been dying to go for ages, not solely because I'd heard they do bottomless porridge, which is genuinely as exciting a prospect for me as bottomless prosecco brunches, and I'm desperate to try one of those too.

Dishoom is always booked up waaaay in advance, I've seen queues snaking down the street to get in, and they have four big branches in London. Told ya it was a popular place.

Luckily for me, Rach had made a booking a while ago which meant we could stroll right in and sit ourselves down amongst Dishoom's stylish clientèle.

In my opinion, Dishoom is pretty unique.

It describes itself as an original Bombay cafe and the menu is fantastic - think Indian dishes with a twist. But we'll get to the food.

Carnaby is the newest Dishoom branch, and the restaurant is huge.

The atmosphere was lovely and relaxed - Sunday vibes were definitely occurring - and the soundtrack was super mixed but fun. I loved the interior too. There were so many tiny details that contributed to the authentic feel of the restaurant and I felt a bit like I was in an episode of Indian Summers (anyone watch that? No? OK, moving on...)

The breakfast menu was amazing - there were so many delicious-sounding dishes that were so different to anywhere else I've eaten.

Being a lassi lover (oh my days, I got so addicted to mango lassis in Malaysia!), I couldn't help but kick things off with the breakfast lassi.

With banana and oats blended up with the classic mango and yogurt, as well as a hint of spice I couldn't quite figure out, it was a delicious and different take on the standard. Mine was gone in no time.

And not long after we'd ordered, the main affair arrived. (We were in a dimly-lit area of the restaurant so my snaps aren't the greatest, I do apologise.)

Oh my days, so much good food! There was spicy scrambled eggs with pau buns, masala beans, bacon, grilled tomatoes, fruit and yogurt, and Dishoom's famous naan rolls. The above pic was the bacon and egg naan roll, which was essentially gorgeous naan bread wrapped around bacon, egg, cream cheese and a little spicy sauce. Looks epic, no? I really want to go back and try the sausage naan roll myself.

However there was only one thing I was going to have: the house porridge.

Best. Porridge Ever.

The texture was so creamy - I think there was definitely mashed banana in there - and the flavour was absolutely on point. The sweetness from the medjool dates (mmmm my faves) went perfectly with the warmth of a little spice. Nutmeg, perhaps? I'm not sure. But it was so tasty.

And because Dishoom's porridge is bottomless, I of course had a second helping, although I did share it around because those portions are generous! It was really kind of the staff to bring me a second portion actually as it was past noon by this point, and breakfast technically isn't meant to be served. Our waitress was a total babe.

Ahhh I wanna eat this porridge again! Next time I'm going to go as soon as they open so I can spend hours and hours eating bowl after bowl of porridge. Who's up for joining me?

I also loved all the crockery on which our food was served.

Alongside my porridge I had the scrummiest house chai. It was just perfectly balanced between spiced and sweet, and even better than the legit ones I had on my travels too. I'm mad keen to go back and try the chocolate chai and Baileys chai too. Mmmm.

By this point, I was so full. So very very full.

But at the same time, I was eyeing up the lunch dishes that had started being served around us. I made a mental note to come back for lunch.

And if I hadn't been so full I would've been super tempted by the pudding menu as that looked awesome. Mango kulfi come at me.

It turned out there was no need for me to order pudding though, as out from the kitchen came a group of waiters singing happy birthday to Rach with a pudding complete with birthday candle!

We all sang happy birthday, Rach blew out her candle and we all grabbed spoons to sample the chocolatey goodness. (Everyone knows the pudding stomach is separate, duhh.)

It was the gooiest, richest, most delicious melty chocolate pudding served with chilli ice cream. The chocolate was wonderful, but I'll be honest the ice cream didn't do it for me - I'd have preferred good old vanilla. However I did also see cinnamon ice cream on the menu and that I'd love to try.

I'm so happy I got to go to Dishoom. It was the perfect place for a leisurely Sunday birthday brunch and I can't recommend it more.

Oh, and I forgot to say it's also extremely reasonably-priced, especially for London. I'm so keen to go back!

Feeling very in need of a digestive stroll afterwards, we went a wandering down and around Carnaby Street.

A peruse of Liberty's was a must, natch, but I was also thrilled to stumble upon what is without a doubt the coolest shop I've been to in a long time: We Built This City. The idea behind the shop is London souvenirs that are interesting, different, good quality and things that you'd actually want to buy. Really it's just the loveliest gift shop. I wanted everything! Deffos pay it a visit if you're in the area.

What a way to spend a Sunday. I'm really rather enjoying this London thing.