KOKUM — Restaurant in London

We were a group of 4 adults and 4 kids that visited for lunch on a Sunday. The place was fairly deserted throughout our meal, with 2 other occupied tables at most. With a huge playground right next door that was full of families, I would have expected a bit more footfall to the restaurant. Perhaps the lack of visible signage outside the restaurant was partly to blame (it didn’t look like it was open).

Our group ordered the samosa chaat, fish koliwada, chicken lollipops, chicken chops and duck seekh kebab as starters, followed by the beef nihari, butter chicken, prawn manga, dal makhani, lamb biryani and a few naans for mains.

Most items were decent enough. The starters were more enjoyable while the mains comprised pretty standard curries and biryani - generally of an acceptable standard without being particularly memorable. Weaker items were the dal makhani (watery) and the beef nihari (tough), but most of all the homemade pistachio kulfi we tried for dessert - this was delivered totally frozen (couldn’t cut through it) and it had almost no flavour. The mango kulfi at least tasted good once we managed to thaw it out a bit!

Service was friendly but a bit amateurish. Our waitress was clearly inexperienced and our complaint about the kulfi did result in it being removed from the bill but there was no follow up or discussion of any sort to inform us of this outcome. The food also did take a while to arrive considering how quiet the restaurant was and our meal ended up extending to 3 hours.

The bill for our group came to £300, of which £60 was spent on drinks. Overall it was a reasonable meal despite a few shortcomings, but certainly nothing to get excited about. With the bar set so high for Indian cuisine in London there are no shortage of superior options to Kokum in my view. Perhaps worth checking out for the local residents of Dulwich, but I couldn’t see...

I visited Kokum in December 2023 with my mum for a special occasion. The decor and lighting was modern but it felt a bit cold near the front door, and a bit disconnected from everything and everyone else, so I was glad to be seated inside the main area which was much more cozy.

The staff were very attentive and welcoming, so no complaints there. In fact, I over ordered and wanted to cancel a dish, and they were very obliging, so 5 stars from me for customer service.

There was a really good selection of starters and main courses, however the Paani Puri Chaat was served ice cold, and was pretty tasteless. I was suprised. My mother also agreed.

I've been to plenty of Indian weddings and family get togethers where this dish has really sung, so I can quietly but confidently say this was lacklustre in all regards (at least on this occasion!)

The restaurant is definitely mid range in price, and not that expensive compared to high end establishments like Chutney Mary (which is about 4x the price). However, Kokum is seeking to be more high end, so I was disappointed to ask the staff if the meat was high welfare, only to be told it wasn't.

I usually eat vegetarian food, but sometimes like organic (or least free range) chicken. I never eat meat that has come from animals that have been mistreated in some way. This is a big no-no in this day and age when consumers and restaurants alike need to be more conscious.

Additionally, a prawn main dish we ordered was almost tasteles. The sauce had flavour but the king prawn was definitely 'out of the freezer' and it lacked any kind of seasoning.

Currently, I can only give the restaurant 3 stars for the food. However, if they would simply raise the quality of their fish and meat, it would easily get 4 stars from me given the high quality of service, including friendliness...

The food was really taste but yes portion was small. My experience at the restaurant was not that great because the person who came to me with the bill and the card payment machine was quite uncultured. He swiped my card twice on his machine but the payment did not go through so l told him that am using the card from past one year. Quite rudely he said that we have never had any problem with any customer, it only with you and your card. I told him to call down and try it at some at place since my table was in a corner . On that he took me towards the counter, then l again trying paying on the same machine through NFC but the payment didn't go through and then he became even ruder and behaved as if l was running away without paying. Something struck to him and he said that since you are saying your card works in London ( since past one year) let me try in my other machine and the payment went through in one go. I explained this story because even though l enjoyed the food, but the behaviour of that person who for 20 pounds treated me rudely just ruined everything. It's the first rule of hospitality to treat your customer with respect which was lacking. No one is going to run away with your money if they are sitting and having a meal at your restaurant. Inspite of helping a customer resolve the issue, here the concerned person tried blaming the customer which is completely wrong.

The reason was giving low score to this place is to make the restaurant staff learn that it is important to respect before judging...