South London has another modern Indian restaurant to please lucky locals
With the tube strike on its fourth day of holding London to ransom, I didn’t want to stray too far from home for dinner. So a restaurant twenty minutes away by car was very tempting – no hassle travel.
Got a bit of hassle though when I arrived in East Dulwich/Southwark. Turning into a side street to park I tapped door mirrors on a parked car that was jutting out. No big deal, it happens all the time in London, but as I was locking my car a very angry young man rushed up and demanded to know why I had not immediately stopped and ‘apologised’ to him for the tap.
As his car had tinted out windows I hadn’t even known he was inside it. I didn’t know what his problem was, but I was wary of him. You don’t want to argue with someone dressed all in black from head to foot.
Anyhoo, after he’d finally stalked off, still muttering and cursing, we headed (quite briskly) to Kokum. It’s in a small parade of shops, but it’s big inside. Apparently the site was once a pub and you can see that history in the rather boxy rear where the majority of the tables are, most of which were occupied. A good sign.
The decor is modern, pretty tasteful, warm and welcoming, as are the staff and the menu is bearably compact in choice, although physically rather large, you could use it as a sail on a skateboard. I can see plenty of things I know that I like and a few that are new, but I’d like to try.
Various papads are proffered with two decent chutneys. I have only recently discovered you can cook papadums in a microwave, a game changer in our house, and I suspect, from the welcome absence of any traces of grease on the papads, that they nuke their papads here. No reason not to, it works.
Also what works are two cocktails, Paloma Sunset – tequila, aperol, grapefruit, cinnamon syrup and a dash of salt for P, while for me a twist on an Old Fashioned, – bourbon infused with pink peppercorns, cinnamon syrup and cardamom bitters. It’s a very spicy drink, those peppercorns may be a girly pink but they pack a punch. We liked both the drinks a lot, but the glasses they came in were a bit ‘petrol station’. These drinks deserve a better presentation.
Starters had the usual suspects with a few vegan options, but I rather fancied the Amritsari Fish – fried fish with ginger, garlic and a mint and coriander chutney. We shared it, which was easy as there were about five portions.
The fish was fried in chickpea (gram) flour which I always like. I also like a bit of chilli, which was just as well as this dish was seriously hot. The chutney helped douse the flames though. A very good dish, not sure what the white fish was but it was happily bone free.
The ‘chicken chop’ up next definitely had a bone in it, which is a good thing, bone is essential for the best flavour. If only I had a decent butcher nearby, but I live in South London.
This was excellent chicken ,marinated chicken thigh, charred outside, moist within and spiced entertainingly, and with a hint of clove and pickling spices served with laccha onion and kasundi mooli, mint and coriander chutney.
The mooli, which is that giant white radish you see in the high street shops, was marinated in a fermented mustard seed sauce that was pungent and sharp. This crisp concoction went well with the chicken.
Onto mains and perennial favourite Lamb Rogan Josh. Who hasn’t had it at least once? All too often though with lamb that requires an hour’s chewing. No such problems here, the lamb was perfectly tender and tasty. The classic sauce of onion and tomato was reddened by Kashmiri chill and there were hints of fennel in there too. Quite a fierce heat.
I had a rather braver option, in that I’d not heard of it before, of chicken cooked in Kolhapuri spices (which Googled under the table – up to ten mixed roasted spices plus onions, garlic and desiccated coconut).
Very intricate flavours, but all very well balanced. We both liked it a lot. As with the previous dish I felt there was a bit too much sauce, the meat was barely visible save for the tips of the icebergs , fine for those that like a lot of sauce, but I’d have preferred less sauce and for it to have been a bit thicker. Minor quibbles as it tasted great.
With it we had Dal Makhani,something that used to be a bit rare on menus, as it takes a good eight hours of slow cooking to create. A rich potage of black lentils (sometimes also with kidney beans) with butter and cream it’s always delicious, as it was here. We scooped it up with good oily flatbread and used a decent bowl of Pilau rice ( good long ‘witches’ fingers’ grains) to blot up all sauces.
Classic desserts of Pistachio Kulfi with Iranian pistachio and Gulab Jamun with vanilla ice cream didn’t let the side down with the kulfi clearly being home made and the Gulab Jamun properly soaked right though with syrup. I always like this dessert in the same way I like Rum Baba, it’s a bit of a kid’s treat but irresistible.
Kokum was put together by Sanjay Gour and Simeron Lily Patel – the co-founders of restaurants, Dastaan and Black Salt Sheen, and their expansion into SE London is a good thing. I happily recommend Kokum, just watch out how you park!
Kokum
58-60 East Dulwich Road, Southwark, London, SE22 9AX,