Dalchini — Restaurant in London

From the first mouthful I knew we had made a mistake - we should have left...

The place had mixed reviews so I was wary but thought I'd give it a go with the family for my wife's birthday. We went at the end of January 2015 - not the busiest day of the week or the busiest month, the place was half full with 2 waiters. From the first mouthful of the 1st dish I knew we had made a mistake - we should have left... I won't go into the detail of every dish, but the highlights were: 1/2 crispy duck, a peculiarly small portion, that had been shredded in the kitchen so who knows what we were given, tiny portion of cucumber and spring onions, restaurants usually cut some/all of the skin off of the cucumber but that was mostly what we given. The duck was cold in the middle of the plate and hot around the edges - a microwave job! Gloopy dishes, a gloopy prawn curry, the prawns were fine but the sauce was just packed out with some flour or other thickener. In fact most of other dishes were the same. Some spicy chicken starter (or at least we ordered it as a starter) tasted OK but the outside was very hot and take a bite and inside was 'stone' cold, but not evenly so over the whole dish, tasted like a hot (in both ways) sauce had been thrown over some pre cooked meat that hadn't been heated up properly - another microwave job I expect. Singapore noodles, if you enjoyed the OTT colourings and flavourings of the 1970's ready meal you will love this. Rose Sherbet. I wanted something other than a beer as I was driving. What might a Rose sherbet be? Turns out it's diet lemonade (as you can taste the nasty sweetener) and a splash of Rose cordial, not chilled and not very nice. Be careful green chillies are everywhere, I mistook one for a spring onion (my fault not their's) and OMG I needed a glass of water, the rose water didn't help and there was no jug of water on the table, I was so desperate I would have drunk the vase water. Vegetables were soft and overcooked, or perhaps they were just old and cooked, I couldn't tell. Considering there were 2 waiters, the lady owner sitting by the front door and only about 6 tables occupied the service was sloppy and slow. I wasn't surprised to get a bill of £25 a head for 2 courses and one round of soft drinks. I am surprised that other reviewers on other sites have had positive things to say about the place. This is the first review I have written in 25 years of going to restaurants, I have never been moved to bother before, definitely...

The first time I've eaten at Dalchini was shortly after I moved to the area. It was late in the evening, I had just come from the airport and was starving. They were still open, but it was nearly closing time. I went in, had no idea what to expect, and was hooked immediately. Such friendly and personal service when I was ready to be treated like a bit of a bother at nearly 10pm with a table of one.

My office is down the road, and since then I've gone for lunch at least once a week to get takeout, often getting larger orders for our team. They do an affordable lunch box selection of rice or noodles and sauces from their evening menu for little more than a fiver. It's always fresh with great meat and fish.

The owner changed some time around 2019, but most of the staff were retained, and since then it's gotten even better. They have refurbished twice, with the latest changes in early 2021 making the restaurant befit the high-end but affordable cuisine they offer for dining in in the evening. Comfortable chairs, a warm and cosy atmosphere and beautiful custom tableware make coming here an experience now.

The food selection is Chinese as it would be in India, with a few Indian and a few more South-East Asian dishes in the mix. Everything seems to always be made fresh and to order, and they are usually quite flexible with request. Dinner portions are generous and the staff are always friendly, prompt and cheerful.

During lockdown Dalchini was the first business I trusted with takeaway, and they have always taken great care with following the rules, were quick to adopt masks and sanitiser, and now typically open up their front windows when the weather permits.

In our office Dalchini had become such an institution that many missed it during the pandemic. In fact some of my colleagues would order stashes of lunch boxes to freeze at home whenever they had to come to the otherwise closed office building, because it really is that good.

I think this is not a surprise, because this place really is a true local gem where the staff, including the owner who usually works the floor, will greet you by name and truly care about their food and the happiness of...

Visited this week as a group of 4, I used to regularly dine in Dalchini 15+ years ago and was excited to try it again.

The staff were friendly but not attentive, for example we weren’t offered any water on arrival or throughout our meal.

Unfortunately the ambience was lacking, we were only ones in the restaurant bar one other table, there was no background music and no physical menu’s - you have to scan a QR code. When dinning out for dinner, you want to put your phone away, so really didn’t enjoy the fact that the only option to access the menu was from our phones, scrolling to fine dishes. The drinks menu wasn’t online even though the QR code was for ‘food and drinks’ . The drinks options were okay, but lacking. I think they had two options for mocktails and basic soft drinks only.

The food was okay - good but not memorable. The pepper chilli paneer was very good, vegetarian Manchurian was good too. I did find the portions to be small compared to other indo Chinese spots - especially the chilli paneer starter. It took a while for our dessert order to be taken, and the bill to arrive. After we placed our desert order and menu’s were taken away, the waiter came back a few later and asked if we wanted ice cream with the dessert - we said yes and were charged. We found it a bit odd, and assumed it was included. All in all, average experience which was disappointing as we...