Picture of Imli Street, W1F 8WR

Historical version 5 of Imli Street, W1F 8WR (view current version)

  • 020 7287 4243
  • 167-169 Wardour Street, Soho, W1F 8WR (streetmap) (osm) (gmap) (bingmap) (streetview)
  • noon-11pm Mon-Tue; noon-11.30pm Wed-Sat; noon-10pm Sun

Indian 'tapas'-themed restaurant, which specialises in offering its food in small dishes to be mixed and matched and shared. Somewhat following this theme, Imli even has a tasting menu at £16.50 or £22.50 per person. A special set menu is available at lunchtimes; it costs £7.50 and the dishes change regularly. (Menus are available on the website.)

On our visit, all of our party opted for the lunchtime set menu, which was basically a thali. All meals included small bowls of papdi chaat (a very tasty combination of 'wholewheat crisps', bean sprouts and sweet yoghurt), dal curry, a curry featuring 'vegetable of the day', and fresh-cut salad. The fifth bowl was either a meat curry or (for those choosing the vegetarian option) a paneer dish. The meal was served with rice and a small dish of chutney. Photo of the vegetarian option

Ewan found the dal to be the best of the dishes, with the 'vegetable of the day' (mushroom) curry spicy but slightly disappointing. Kat was happy with her chicken dish (which was brought out in error, as she had ordered pork, but was offered free of charge while the chef readied the pork curry). Kake and Ewan both enjoyed the paneer dish, which had cubes of firm paneer in a tasty green sauce - spinach? - and wasn't overly rich like paneer dishes can often be.

As well as a small selection of wines and beers, they also offer interesting soft drinks. Ewan tried the fresh lime juice (£2.85, available either sweet or salty), which was refreshing although with an odd taste incorporating both salt and sugar. Kake tried the thyme lemonade (£2.95), which was exactly what it sounded like, and had just the right amount of thyme flavour.

Service was attentive without being overbearing and the food was brought out promptly. An optional 12.5% service charge was automatically added to the bill - slightly over the odds for a casual restaurant in London.

According to their website, Imli was "launched by the team behind Tamarind" (a Michelin-starred Indian restaurant in Mayfair).

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Last visited by Kake, Ewan, Kat and Leon, 21 February 2008. Opening hours taken from the Imli website, February 2008.
OS X co-ord: 529502 OS Y co-ord: 181176 (Latitude: 51.514164 Longitude: -0.133488)
This is version 5 (as of 2008-02-23 22:00:14). View current version. List all versions.