Thali lunch at Delhi Grill, 21 Chapel Market, London N1 9EZ

Another trip back to north London and one of my old haunts, the bustling Chapel Market. A great little area, featuring the traditional pie & mash shop Manzes (also on our to visit list) and my old bargain favourite – Indian Veg, an incredibly cheap all-you-can-eat buffet. But we weren’t here for either of those.

Extra, extra read all about it…

… on the walls

We’ve wanted to go to Delhi Grill for a long, long time. It’s a family run affair based on an Indian Dhaba, a shack-like restaurant found at petrol stations in northern India. Outside they have a stall outside selling stuffed rotis, but it wasn’t there when we visited, guessing it’s just a weekday thing. The new Thali lunch menu idea is that it’s a quick and easy way to feed customers at lunchtime, and you get to have a few different bits. I love compartments, and especially like eating out of them, no risk of cross contamination and a nice bit of order!

Ordering, as easy as 1,2,3

Plates with compartments…

… of delicious Thali goodness

The freshly baked roti – and Ade’s first ever Matter Paneer

There are two choices, meat (£6.90 or £5.90 takeaway) or veg (£6.40 or £5.40 takeaway) with rice or roti.  We had one of each, the meat option of the day was Keema Matter – a dry curry made from minced lamb and peas. For someone who doesn’t like lamb it’s the third time in two weeks that I’ve eaten it and enjoyed it. The veg option was Matter Paneer ‘cheese and peas’. Ade said the paneer was very similar to halloumi, just a little softer and not as ‘squeaky’. There is also a ‘snack of the day’, ours was Bhajia, also known as Pakoras, deep-fried potato. Everything is marinated overnight and cooked fresh for each sitting. The roti was very good, especially when dunked in the best dhall I’ve ever had. The Green Chutney dip was a fab fresh accompaniment, with zingy apple, mint and lemon juice .

It’s a counter service set-up at lunchtime, in order to speed things up they even encourage you to take back your own plates. There’s a good selection of Indian beers and a choice of freshly-made lassi. Tap water is readily available on the counter, we were going to have a chai but were told there was a twenty-minute wait. That makes us sound impatient but they were about to close and we didn’t want to put them out.

Delhi Grill didn’t disappoint, a lovely set-up, we felt like we were getting a real Indian experience, we hope to get down there sometime for dinner, sure the food will be just as stunning.

What a dish…

Delhi Grill
21 Chapel Market
London N1 9EZ
Tel: 020 7278 8100.

Mon Closed; Tue-Sun 12-2:30pm, 6:30-10:30pm

Nearest tube: Angel

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