Indico

Whenever I get invited to try out a Indian restaurant, I pray to God that it will be good. Because, as you know by now, it takes alot for me to like Indian cuisine that isn't prepared by my mother. So, when I got invited to try out Indico, all of these thoughts were racking through my brain. I have wanted to try out Indico ever since it opened and had heard alot of buzz about the place. The restaurant is based in Shirley and it specialises in Indian street food. I wondered what their vegan options would be like, how authentic it would be and whether it would be a place that I would want to visit again.

If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook, you would have seen how much I liked the decor of Indico. It is bright and beautiful, and full of Asian flavour. The bar area is in front of you as you walk in, the dining area on the right of it and right at the back is the exposed kitchen area. Compact yet spacious because of the high ceilings. We sat down and started to peruse the newspaper-style menu. The menu has curries, kathi rolls, burgers, tiffin boxes, kebabs, biryani and most noteworthy is the street food starter section. The allergens are listed on the menu. However, I saw that the Daal Makhani did not show that it contained butter, when the name of the dish itself contains it. This left me slightly sceptical of the listings on the menu and I ensured I asked the waiter about what we wanted to order.

For our starters, we decided to go with the Punjabi Samosa Chaat and the Aloo Tikki. The samosa chaat was a made of two samosas that were served with a chana masala and garnished with a green chutney, coriander and diced onions. It was presented well on a steel plate and it looked attractive. The chana (chickpea) masala was flavoursome and beautiful. However, I found the samosas dry and lacking flavour.

The Aloo Tikki dish is made of two potato patties with chana masala and garnished with coriander, pomegranate, green chutney and diced onions. It was tasty but of a more solid consistency then I am used to. There was no getting away from the dryness of the aloo tikki and samosas but the chana masala rectified this in both dishes somewhat. However, it felt as if neither were fresh and perhaps this had attributed to the dryness. The waiter that took our order ensured that neither of the starters contained dairy and that the yogurt that is normally drizzled on top was omitted which was done easily.

 Onto the mains. I decided to go for the Tarka Daal, the Rajma Masala and Bhindi Fries. Tarka Daal is a lentil dish that was creamy, rich, a great portion and the chilli oil in the middle was beautiful when mixed in. Simple and tasty. I could easily eat this every day.

The Rajma Masala is a curry made with red kidney beans in a spicy masala and it was just as good as the Tarka Daal. Again, creamy and flavoursome. It was reminiscent of a similar dish my mother used to make when I was younger. I enjoyed the curries with Tandoori Roti, which was thin and tasty and it worked well altogether.

Last but not least, we had the Bhindi Fries aka ladyfingers/okra that had been cut length ways, dipped in batter and deep fried. This was the best part of the meal. Crispy, tasty and in a lovely spicy sauce.

Overall, the meal itself at Indico was tasty and the decor was great to look at. The menu was labelled with the allergens, however I feel these need to be revised, as mentioned previously. The service was the only thing that left a funny taste in my mouth. They were able to make sure that all my dietary requirements were met, which was great. However, there was no aftercare. Nothing to ensure you had everything you wanted, especially when something was finished, and at the end of the meal there was no one to ask if we wanted anything else or even to ensure we enjoyed the meal. For that reason, I am most likely not to go back but this could be teething problems. I hope so because the idea of the Indico is great but with a little more care in its execution, it could be an amazing place.

Have you visited Indico? What did you think?

*The meal I had at Indico was complimentary but my opinions are my own*