Modern Indian Food at Kricket Soho, London - Restaurant Review

Cuisine: Modern Indian
Style Points: 4/5
Price: ££
Overall: 4/5

First founded in a tiny 20-seat shipping container in Brixton, the original Kricket restaurant was a hit on the Brixton dining scene. Now with a permanent location on the streets of the West End, Kricket Soho brings the same flaming flavours to Soho.

Opened on the 5th January 2017, I had a sneak peak of Kricket Soho at their soft launch. The soho location is focused on an open kitchen with primarily counter dining, as well a few booth style benches for groups. 

The counter seats are actually a great location to watch your order being cooked by the chefs from scratch. It’s also perfect to get the waiter's attention as well as admire the frenetic energy of a busy kitchen! 

Kricket Soho is primarily a walk-in restaurant so expect queues. Once seated on the counter stools, we placed our order and watched, and well as smelt, the aromas as the chef whipped it up. 

What’s on the menu?

Kricket Soho has a menu full of punchy Indian-inspired dishes with a strong western twist - to the extent that many of the dishes are unrecognisable from their original versions, but this certainly isn’t a bad thing.

To drink we ordered with fresh lime soda with mint to start, a zesty and quenching drink which proved handy with some of the spicy dishes we took on. 

We ordered a delicious bhel puri with a succulent dose of tamarind chutney, as well as crunchy and irresistible samphire pakoras to start.

Moving onto the larger dishes I tried the crab meen moilee with castlefranco and peanuts, and my companion opted for the delicia pumpkin with makhani sauce, fresh paneer and hazelnut crumble. We ate this with Malabar paratha which was freshly made right in front of us. 

Finally we tried the kichri with smoked haddock, pickled cauliflower and raw egg yolk. Although I’ve had kichri many times before, I’d never tried it with haddock and raw egg. This dish was actually a delicious surprise as all the flavours all worked well together to provide a unique twist on a familiar dish. 

Could I afford to dine here again?

The prices at Kricket Soho are standard for the area and sufficient for the quality. The starters range from £5 to £7 and main courses are about £12. Although not a cheap meal, the exquisite food at Kricket Soho definitely justifies the prices.

Overall?

Although Kricket Soho is inspired by Mumbai’s street food, don’t come expecting recognisable Indian food from the menu, as this is not a traditional indian restaurant. Instead the dishes are innovative and exciting with bold fresh flavours.

I particularly enjoyed the small dishes we had for starters but wasn’t as enthralled with the main courses, perhaps because I had sampled a few too many different flavours in the restaurant by that point. 

Visit Kricket Soho’s website 
Address: 12 Denman St, Soho, London W1D 7HH
Tube Station: Piccadilly Circus