London’s bustling Soho has a new family member on the food scene… Soho Wala, which is led by Head Chef Rajesh Parmar and part of the wonderous Courthouse Hotel. Soho Wala delivers their take on traditional dabbawala style Indian street food, but with a modern twist. This can be seen executed from the decor and tableware all the way down to the very dishes themselves. With a warm welcome we sat down to be greeted with melodious current Bollywood tracks… and yes admittedly we couldn’t help ourselves, but tap our feet and sing under our breath to those awesome tracks!
To start I opted for a refreshingly sweet Mango Lassi, Pani Puri Wala, that classic Bhel Puri, Truffle Phulwadi and Videshi Poppadums. To my delight the Pani Puri Wali was presented in a cute downsized Indian street food cart; they tasted as good as they looked. The Pani Puri Wali were little flavoursome bursts of goodness, a definite must to order if you visit the restaurant (my mouth is still even salivating over them as I write this). I’m a huge fan of Bhel Puri and this one was different from others I’ve tasted before, it was punchy and tangy – how a Bhel Puri should be, however for personally me it was missing a few other ingredients such as boiled potato, tamarind, chickpeas, yoghurt and onion. The Truffle Phulwadi brought back memories from my childhood, true nostalgia. If you love crunchy snacks, then this is perfect for you. Sticking with the crunchy theme… the savoury and crunchy Vidhesi Poppadums were garlic and parmesan baked. For someone who loves garlic, it hit the spot!
For the mains, I dug into Paneer Kofta and Prawn Balchao. When I normally order prawn dishes, restaurants can be resistant to add a decent number of prawns in their portions. I am glad to say Soho Wala’s dish was overloaded with king prawns! The taste of grounded cinnamon or a garam masala spice/s was prevalent in this dish, the sauce (which was almost a paste consistency) was tongue ticklingly tasty and something different from what I normally have at Indian restaurants. I felt the prawns could have been marinated (if they were not already) or marinated better. The Paneer Kofta was sweet and deliciously creamy; I teamed it up with a side accompaniment of steamed rice and evitably cleared the plate on this one!
Soho Wala’s desserts won my heart over! I highly recommend the Gulab Jamun Cheesecake, not only does it looking mouthwatering tempting, but this just has layers of surprises when finally decide to dip your spoon into it. It took a while for me to eat this, as when it arrived it looked too pretty to eat and also I wanted to savour each mouthful! The Vidhesi Chai dish was a really an interesting construction as it consisted of Assam tea brule, shortbread, vanilla ice cream and malai crème. I have to applaud Soho Wala for their creativity on this one as it was a sweet journey through different tastes and textures.
Overall Soho Wala has it all, a chillaxed ambience, Bollywood chartbuster music, friendly staff, swift service, fresh flavoursome fun food and let’s not forget to mention that EPIC Gulab Jamun Cheesecake! So time it’s for the score…
LKL Rating ★★★☆☆
I would like to give a HUGE thank you to Soho Wala for having me! I had so much fun, can’t wait to go back again and get my hands on that Gulab Juman Cheesecake!
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