I have been a huge fan of Dishooms for years. Even before they opened up their takeaway in Cambridge, I was visiting their restaurants in Shoreditch back in 2016.
I was delighted when I heard they were coming to Cambridge but equally crushed when I heard they are takeaway only. This basically means that their service is only accessible to the immediate Cambridge area. Living in the heart of the fens, I knew that I would only be able to try them if I was visiting someone else in Cambridge. This is why it has taken longer than it should to complete this review….so, apologises for that.
You can order Dishoom through Deliveroo. What I love most is that they do lunch from 12-4pm, making the food widely available throughout the day. I have lost count at the number of times I have hung around in town waiting for an Indian restaurant to open at 5pm, after missing their 2pm lunch schedule.
Their lunches are transported in easy to carry pots which are perfect for eating at work or on the go. The containers are great for trapping heat too, with our dishes staying warm much longer than we expected during our dining experience. Lunch boxes come to a tenner each. This is going to be far too expensive for your every day lunch at work but is perfect for your occasional treat or weekends. It’s a great idea for people with small appetites who will rarely eat an entire mains portion.
Being lunch time, my wife decided to order the chicken ruby lunch pot. We also ordered the Vada Pau, Chefs Lamb Curry, rice, a naan, and of course, their famous black Daal.
Dishoom is famous for its Black Daal. For anyone who hasn’t had their signature dish before, you don’t know what you are missing! If they sold this in bath tub measurements you’d see me sat in it with a rubber duck. The rest of their food is fantastic but it’s the Black Daal which stands out as one of their most popular dishes. It is the dish I lay in bed thinking about and is the reason I keep coming back. The best thing is, it’s under £8, vegetarian, and goes with almost anything!
The delivery was painless to order through the Deliveroo app and arrived at our door in little over ten minutes! In terms of speed, this was nothing short of remarkable!
The Black Daal was everything I remembered from my previous visits to Dishooms. It was incredibly thick, creamy, and bursting with flavour. This was the perfect partner to dip the naan in and the portion was large enough for a whole person to eat as a mains. Dishooms cook their daal for 24 hours and it clearly pays off as it is absolutely incredible.
The Vada Pau is a dish made from mashed vegetables served with a hot buttered bun “chowpatty beach style”. This came to a mere £5 which costs no more than a Marks & Spencer meal box but vastly more delicious. This is the sort of thing you could order for lunch at work every single day (and have at your door in ten minutes). Superb value!
After scoffing that Black Daal and naan, I moved onto the Chefs Lamb Curry. This is made with garlic, ginger, turmeric, red chillies, and whole black peppercorns. This is an incredibly moorish dish which offered some of the most tender lamb I have ever had. It just melted in my mouth. Dare I say it? This may have been the highlight of the meal!
Dishoom were kind enough to throw in extra rice at no extra charge. This is good business as it makes sure that the customer is full and likely only costs them an extra pound. We used the extra rice to mop up the Daal left over from the naan.
Dishooms is my out-right favourite takeaway in Cambridgeshire. It offers London standard Indian food which is delivered with impeccable timing by Deliveroo. Prices are reasonable, especially considering the quality, and there is a great value lunch menus and exciting meals for a fiver. Not only that but they are open more frequently throughout the day, making them more convenient.
I really wish Dishooms would open a restaurant, as I feel that being takeaway only is isolating a large majority of the county. With Dishooms constantly expanding across the UK, through London, Manchester, Birmingham, and other cities, I hope it’s only a matter of time before we see it.
Thanks for reading!
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