KRICKET, SOHO

Kricket began as a pop-up in a shipping container in Brixton but earlier this year they opened up a permanent home in Soho, a stone’s throw away from Piccadilly Circus. Being a massive fan of Indian food I obviously had to head down there to try it out.

The restaurant is spread across two floors. The upper is an open kitchen with bar seating and a couple of small booths while downstairs you have large communal tables that are perfect for group dinners. They accept walk-ins for any group size and you can also book in advance for groups of 4 or more. It’s a very relaxed vibe with slightly dimmed lighting

Now, onto the food. It is not your typical curry and rice Saturday night Indian takeaway. It’s definitely more of a tapas style restaurant where you order multiple small plates and share them between you (something which I’m still not sure I like because I hate sharing food!). Our lovely server recommended everyone should order 2-3 plates each, depending on appetite of course. However, as there were 5 of us, and because we were extremely indecisive, we decided to order one of almost everything on the menu. Our dishes arrived as and when they were ready which I preferred because it meant we weren’t overwhelmed with food and were able to try a bit of everything. Dishes ranged from £3.50 to £11.50 which I thought was pretty reasonable but be warned that things do add up rather quickly.

My absolute favourite dish was the Pork Cheek Coorg: slow cooked pig cheeks in a spicy ragu style sauce. The meat was melt in your mouth soft and the sauce it was in gave the perfect kick of spiciness without burning your insides. Absolutely delicious! Honourable mentions also go to the Keralan Fried Chicken which was wonderfully moist and full of flavour and the Samphire Pakoras that came with the most delicious chili garlic mayonnaise. The kulcha, a type of Indian flat bread, were perfect for mopping up the sauces and I would definitely recommend trying the Bone Marrow version. I didn’t try any of the cocktails but I have it on good authority that the Dark Matter, a mixture of spiced rum, mango and agave with a little twist, was top notch. For those who don’t drink alcohol or just don’t fancy it at that moment, the fresh lime and mint soda is so refreshing. Between the 5 of us we demolished the first round of orders and went back in for a second of all our favourites and a few more cocktails.

By the time we were done all but one of us was stuffed so dessert was one dish shared between five. We shared the Gulab Jamun with Vanilla ice cream and Carom crumble and it was definitely a dish for someone with a sweet tooth. The syrupy sauce that came with the dessert was a bit sickly for my liking but the carom crumble was absolutely delicious. The choice of desserts are limited though so if you decide to visit it definitely won’t be to sample a variety of desserts.

In total, the bill for 5 was around £250. Bear in mind this does include a 12.5% service charge and about 6 cocktails costing £9 each. As I mentioned before, the majority of the dishes are reasonably priced but they add up very very quickly so it pays to keep that in mind when visiting. Overall I would definitely recommend paying a visit to Kricket. It's the perfect place for a good catch up over some lovely, and different, food.