Ahhh, Dishoom. For a while it was seemingly everyone’s favourite London restaurant. Every catch-up with friends would include the question, “have you been to Dishoom yet? You really must”. So I was surprised when one of my pals said she had never been and insisted that we escape our South London enclave – kids in tow – to see what all the fuss was about (9 years ago).
It’s a place I’ve enjoyed A LOT over the years, with fond memories of celebrating friend’s birthdays over too much Biryani and booze but it’s not somewhere I would necessarily think ‘child-friendly’ … until now.
We went to the King’s Cross branch and when my friend arrived first with her two children she was greeted by friendly staff who immediately produced an etch-a-sketch to entertain her eldest (something, my friend pointed out, even cafe’s pertaining to be aimed at families don’t tend to do).
When I arrived late, sweating and with the wee man grizzling in his sling, my friend and her brood looked – by comparison – the picture of contentment. A feat, I was assured, that was in no small part due to the attentiveness of the staff. We chose to seat ourselves in the pleasantly spacious ground-floor lounge but if you’re coming with a pram, other floors are accessible via a lift.
High-chairs were produced and breakfast ordered. Be warned, a kids menu is not on offer until 12pm; not an issue for the wee man who largely exists on a diet of boob and sweet-potato wedges, but might have been helpful for the three-year-old in our company. As it was, my friend ordered him the sweet Appam stack; pancakes covered in all the good stuff like syrup and cream (and berries) while she went for the Kejriwal; fried eggs on chilli cheese toast. I had the sausage naan.
I’m not going to lie, at £6.50, it’s not the cheapest sausage sandwich I’ve ever had but I ate it like a frenzied animal and I still catch myself thinking about it from time to time (and not just because I’m writing this) – a marker of a pretty delicious sausage sandwich, I reckon – and my friend raved about her eggs and cheese on toast.
The three-year-old was less impressed with his pancakes; either because he is the next Jay Rayner in Spider-Man high tops or because he’s going through some phase with food (I suspect the latter). Valiantly, his mum and I hoovered it up without fuss and plenty of overblown “hmm, DE-LICI-OUS” in a vain attempt to get him to show some interest in it. He didn’t. But we were happy.
In fact, the only (minor) downside is that the baby-changing facility is miles away on the bottom floor. Thankfully though, on this occasion it wasn’t needed.
Dishoom, King’s Cross in an nutshell:
Cost ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The sausage naan is worth every penny
Accessibility ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I brought a sling but if you’re a pram person and don’t fancy sitting in the ground floor lounge there is lift access (ask staff) or you can leave your pram downstairs.
Facilities ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Baby changing is a bit of a trek to get to on the bottom floor but they produced an etch-a-sketch for the three-year-old so all is forgiven!
Feeding friendly ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The lounge chairs on the ground floor are nice a comfortable.
General vibe ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Yummy food, EXCELLENT and very helpful staff – I’m now going more often than before I had the wee man!
MotherCulture 