Forget The Balls, Wimbledon Is Buzzing With Bombay Delights

With Wimbledon in full swing, the entire area is buzzing right now with balls and bats, alright racquets, and an awful lot of excited tennis fans from around the world.

And when they get tired of strawberries and cream, those visitors should hot foot it down to Bombay Delight. A short volley from centre court, this excellent Indian restaurant is an experience not to be missed.

I admit to smirking at the slightly cheesy-sounding name when I first heard it, but regret that now as this Wimbledon restaurant really is truly delightful.

We visited on a particularly rainy evening, but the bright and cheerful interiors quickly lifted our spirits, everything from the pretty patterned floor tiles to the comfy armchairs has been imported from India for a really authentic vibe.

The biggest Bombay delight however is chef and founder Ajay Chaurasia who took the time to look after us personally, helped us on and off with our coats and even called a cab at the end of the evening. What a gent.

He personally, and patiently, guided us through the extensive menu, which is spread over several pages and appears a bit intimidating at first glance, pausing to check how hot we like our curries (answer: dangerously)

Of course, you will find the traditional Indian staples here, familiar friends like Tikka Masala, Korma and Rogan Josh feature prominently, but we let Ajay guide us off that well-beaten track as he steered us towards his personal favourites, modern takes on traditional dishes. We knew we were off to a good start when we were presented with a basket of three different types of poppadoms that were puffy and more like popcorn in texture than the usual giant crisps. And they came with homemade chutneys including a beetroot one which was possibly my favourite thing of the entire meal.

I love an avocado but have never had a warm one, so could not resist the creamy Avocado Chaat which was blended with potatoes, tamarind, green chutney and lime. Yum. A fiery Chilli Paneer was pretty damn good, as were the Chaat Bombs, little puffed hollow balls of pastry filled with chickpea mash and splashed with yoghurt and chutneys.

But the best starter was the Tandoori Broccoli, which had been marinated in yoghurt and Kashmiri chillies before being grilled in a charcoal oven and served with the florets standing upside down, which gave the dish a real wow factor. I know that’s a terrible cliche, and I apologise for that, but we did both genuinely say ‘Wow!’ when it was placed on the table. Honestly.

The entire fish section of the menu sounded great, and I usually can’t resist prawns in a curry but was persuaded to go for the Monkfish Aleppy with a twist of raw mango, which was tender and, well, can a sauce be silky? Because that’s what it was.

We also devoured a stand-out lamb dish called Mahim ki Nihari, famous on the streets of Mumbai apparently, which was slowly simmered with saffron and rose petals until it was so tender it almost fell apart on the fork; along with a side dish of Baghare Baingan – a Hyderbadi style aubergine curry with tamarind, peanuts and fresh coconut.

Most of the dishes can be served as either starter or main sized portions, which can make decision-making even harder, but some of these are sure to become our new new go-to orders.

There is an extensive cocktail list at Bombay Delight, but I can recommend the light and fruity Mango-tini withvodka, elderflower, lychee & mango.

They also do a rather interesting-sounding Sunday brunch menu called From The Streets of Bombay, which is a fun mash-up of dishes which can be ordered by an entire group and shared over an entire afternoon of foodie and flavour-filled fun.

So we will be back for that, oh and the Keralan Scallops Curry and the Barrah Lamb Chops which sounded amazing but we couldn’t manage to stuff anymore into our greedy little faces. We tried people, lord knows we tried.