Review of Dalchini in Wimbledon

This year Dalchini celebrates their 25th anniversary and we were delighted to be invited to try their fantastic menu. Nestled in amongst the boutique shops just beside Wimbledon Park, the restaurant is warm and welcoming with stunning decor and attentive staff. 

The menu spans the cuisines of Asia and Dalchini was one of the first Indo-Chinese restaurants in the UK. We started with their recommendations of salt and pepper squid and Chicken Lollipop served with a soy sauce and a chilli dip. The squid was delicious, tender and the batter tasty with fresh chilli, the portions were so generous we struggled to finish. The lollipops were super spicy and melt in the mouth, a great way to tantalise our tastebuds for the evening.

We were delighted to try the fresh mixed sweet and sour lime soda, a signature house drink alongside the house ale. For our next course, the Jade chicken soup - like a Jewish- style heartwarming for the soul it cooled the heat ready for our main courses. We opted for the Dalchini prawn pimento pepper;  Hakka aubergine with garlic and Manchurian vegetables accompanied by the burnt ginger rice.  

This turned out to be a great combination- the rice serving as the perfect base for the sweet pimento prawns and the sticky soy sauce with the vegetables. It was hard to pick out a favourite as each dish offered different new flavours and textures unlike anything we’d tried before. All dishes were served on beautiful bespoke crockery plates made from a local pottery in Surrey. 

For dessert we tried a dish on the special jubilee menu - the jasmine and lychee Cremaux - a wonderfully sweet and creamy dish which went well with the “it’s hot it’s not” deep fried ice cream.

After dinner we were given an exclusive tour of the speakeasy downstairs Holy Brew which transported us to 1940’s New York with rich marble panelling, red lights and a mind blowing array of whiskies and spirits from around the world. A real Bobby dazzler. We highly recommend visiting after a meal at Dalchini.

Address: 147 Arthur Road, London, SW19 8AB

Website https://www.dalchini.co.uk/food-menu

Written by Claire Selby 

Photography courtesy of Dalchini