I have made no secret of my love for the biryani’s from The Brook. They have been a favourite of mine for many years and I always find myself popping back from time to time, just so I can enjoy one.

While visiting The Brook this weekend for my latest biryani fix, I noticed that they also have a Thali selection on the black board by the bar. Considering the quality of their biryani’s, I thought I would give their Thali a chance. I have been enjoying Thali a lot recently, most notably a superb one from my visit to Raja the other day. I was excited to see how they compared and whether they did anything different from other restaurants.

Two options are available, Saturday and Sundays only.

• The vegetarian (£13.50)

• The non-vegetarian (£14.50).

Both come with the following…

• Two starter curries

• Daal

• Salad

• Papadum

• Puri bread

• Dessert

• “Bottomless rice”.

For those of you yet to try a Thali, this is a popular dish in India. The word Thali stands for “plate” because it is served as a large plate with a concoction of small, tapas-esque, dishes. You get real variety with a Thali and it is a balanced meal in its own right, along with dessert to boot.

Non vegetarian Thali

The most noticeable difference between the vegetarian and the non vegetarian Thali is the curry and chicken skewers.

The chicken skewers were made from green chicken, almost like a Hariyali (please correct me if I am wrong here). This is chicken cooked in mint, herbs and coriander leaves, giving it that lovely green colour. This particular take looked like it was cooked with yoghurt, giving it a tender and succulent texture that removed all dryness from the chicken.

I couldn’t tell you exactly what the curry was but it tasted like a madras. It was milder than your usual madras making it much more accessible for everyone. The curry was swimming in a rich creamy sauce which made it great for dipping the accompanying puri and papadums.

Vegetarian Thali

The vegetarian Thali looked very similar to the non vegetarian. Obviously, it lacked the chicken curry and the Hariyali chicken but by eye you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference. The fundamentals were the same with two curry and a daal, along with salad, papadum, rice, and puri.

Instead of chicken, the skewers were two blocks of paneer cheese. The two curries were (I think) a spicy butternut squash and a potato curry. All of which were perfectly complimented with two portions of puri bread that I used to scoop it up.

The daal was thicker than other daals I have had as of late but this made it easier to scoop up with the puri. It also had a much deeper flavour with cashew nuts that were a lovely touch. It was fantastic!

We signed off with a dessert that comes with both types of Thali. This came in the form of an Indian rice pudding esc dish (perhaps kheer?). It was the perfect end to a lovely meal that added a much welcomed sweetness after so much savoury.

Conclusion

Both my guest and I loved our Thali’s. I have been enjoying them all over the city as of late and this was up there with the best of them. If you haven’t tried one before then make sure you give it a go, as they offer a unique dining experience with so much variety. It is a great all-in-one dish with starters, mains, and dessert all wrapped up into one. I recommend giving it a try as there is a good chance you’ll discover something new to add to your culinary experience.

Thanks for reading