Imli

Indian
Soho

Imli, situated on Wardour Street in Soho, is an Indian tapas restaurant: a fairly unusual concept in London. We never would have considered Indian food to have lent itself particularly well to the tapas presentation style, but we were very happy to be proven wrong.

We started our meal with some popadums, which came with three lovely homemade chutneys, followed by a selection of starters, which included the absolutely delightful Papdi Chaat; a specialty of the restaurant. We were then brought three separate curry dishes to try for the main, including a chicken masala, a fish dish and a mushroom based vegetarian option, all of which were delightful. The sauces were all creamy and delicious, and the ingredients were all cooked to perfection. On the side we were given boiled rice and a cheese and coriander naan, which lived up to the standards set by the rest of the food, being both moist and tasty: everything a naan should be.

We finished off with the gulab jamun; a milk dumpling served with the wonderfully exotic fig and ginger ice cream and another house specialty.

Overall, Imli is a very interesting concept and anyone would be hard pressed to deny that the food was immaculately cooked and presented. However, cash conscious diners will need to be careful as ordering a number of tapas dishes can see the bill creep up very quickly, so it is well worth checking on restaurant booking sites like Toptable to see if a deal is available before you book.

Unlike a lot of tapas bars though, Imli definitely has the food to back up the prices, and it's well worth the money. You'll be hard pressed to find a nicer curry in the area.

167-169 Wardour Street, W1F 8RW

Average price for main meal: £8.50 (based on tapas style dishes)
Average price for a glass of wine: £4.50
Food/Drink: 5/5
Service: 4/5
Value: 3/5
    
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