The Indian Room, Balham

This month we headed to south west London to try out Balham’s Indian Room, located on Bedford Hill.

We began the evening with a few pleasant ales in the quiet back garden of the Balham Bowls Club. This is a nice bar that is laid out rather like a youth hostel. From the fine selection of ales we tried the increasingly popular Meantime Pale Ale, and the rather splendid UBU, brewed by Warwickshire’s Purity brewey.

From there we headed across the road to the Indian Room, which was pretty much full although diners here are given plenty of elbow room compared to some of the places we have visited such as Tayabbs or Needos.  

The customary poppadoms arrived, and our party all noted that they were crisp and less oily than usual. Amongst the four dips only the mango chutney, which was tangy and sweet, made itself noticed. There was an absence of lime pickle, which is always disappointing to see. We can only assume it is omitted by many curry houses based on customer feedback. But I believe whilst not to everyone’s tastes it more than merits a place in the dips starting line-up.

So far so good. Things then took a turn for the worse however, as our meals took 45 minutes to arrive owing to a kitchen mix up. Thankfully when the food finally arrived it was worth the wait.

The naans were nice and firm and not too doughy – we tried the plain, garlic and keema varieties. The lamb dhansak was well-spiced, hot, with a strong flavour of cardoman, and lacking the unwelcome oiliness which is often a feature of curries in London’s Indian restaurants. In fact all the dishes we tried were remarkably oil-free. The lamb karahi was delicately spiced, with a nice thick sauce. The chilli chicken had a decent kick, and again, like all the curries, the sauce was thick and flavourful. The lamb rogan josh tasted, according to one of our party, like an angel had pissed on his tongue, but this was after a few too many monsoons – a nice change from the ubiquitous Cobra. Mongoose beats Cobra, most of the time.

The Balham Bowls Club: 8/10
The Indian Room: 8/10