Edinburgh restaurant Dishoom is now offering delivery of its comfort food classics

If you fancy one last hurrah on the final day of National Curry Week, order from Edinburgh’s Dishoom. While the space is closed, due to covid restrictions on restaurants, they’ve launched delivery through Deliveroo.
Interior of Dishoom, EdinburghInterior of Dishoom, Edinburgh
Interior of Dishoom, Edinburgh

This service will be available until 25 October, and potentially beyond, from noon until 11pm every day, in postcodes “from Murrayfield to Northfield, Newhaven to Morningside”. Just enter the postcode on the website to see if you’re on their delivery route.

They will join a huge contingent of Scottish restaurants who are offering delivery and takeaway while closed or unable to open fully, see our list.

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Expect an edited version of their menu, with “Bombay comfort food (and other sundries)”. It features dishes including their ever popular house black daal, which is cooked for 24 hours, and the favourite of Irani cafes, keema pau - spiced minced lamb and peas with a toasted and buttered home-made bun and garnish.

Masala chai at DishoomMasala chai at Dishoom
Masala chai at Dishoom

There’s also the chicken ruby in a “silky makhani sauce”, mataar paneer and most of the dishes you’ll be familiar with if you’ve visited this usually bustling and incense-scented three-level restaurant on St Andrew Square.

As in the restaurants, for every meal ordered for delivery, they donate a meal to a child. They work with Akshaya Patra, a charity in India which provides nourishing free meals to schools. This means the children are undistracted by hunger, and ready to learn.

As well as the food, there’s merch. They can drop off a copy of their Slip-Disc CD, for some Sixties Mumbai vibes. Or, there’s the hardback cookbook, Dishoom: From Bombay with Love, which was released last year and written by co-founder, Shamil Thakrar, who owns the chain, along with other branches in London, Birmingham and Manchester, with his cousin, Kavi.

Unfortunately, due to the practicalities of biking a gallon of liquid to somebody’s house, they won’t be delivering the unlimited chai that they serve at breakfast and brunch. However, you’re welcome to brew up a cauldron at home, with the help of our recipe.

Masala chai

There are many varieties of chai. The kind we make at Dishoom is the sort of spicy, sweet chai you will find at Bombay’s innumerable tapris (street stalls), normally poured with great dexterity and skill from arm’s length into a small, stout glass.

Serves 4

2 tbsp loose Assam or Darjeeling tea, or 3 English breakfast teabags

12 slices of fresh root ginger

1½ tsp black peppercorns

12 cardamom pods

2 cinnamon sticks

5 cloves

50g granulated white sugar

500ml whole milk1. Put the tea, ginger and spices into a saucepan, pour on 1 litre boiling water and bring to the boil. Lower the heat and simmer until you can smell the spices, about 10 minutes.

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2. Add the sugar and milk, turn up the heat and bring to the boil. Allow 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. (A skin will form, but this is strained off at the end.) Taste to see if the chai is to your liking; boil a little more if you wish for a stronger flavour. Patience will be rewarded!

3. Strain, discard the solids, and serve immediately.

Extract taken from Dishoom by Shamil Thakrar, Kavi Thakrar & Naved Nasir (£26, Bloomsbury). Photography © Haarala Hamilton.

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