Six dishes, rice, puri, raita, pickle and a sweet on one steel platter from half past twelve, £16.50, £8 for children
The Sunday thali
From half past twelve to four every Sunday: a thali of six small dishes (two curries, a dal, a vegetable, a chaat and the day's special), rice, two puris, raita, pickle and a sweet on a steel platter, £16.50 an adult and £8 for under-twelves. A meat thali and a vegan thali, the dishes changed every week and published by Thursday. No booking for two; book for six or more.
Sunday lunch here is a thali because that is what Sunday lunch was at home: a steel platter with six small bowls, everything at once, and a second helping of whichever you liked. It has run every Sunday since 2013 and it fills the room by one, which is why we take bookings for six or more and ask everybody else to come early or come at three.
The six bowls change every week. There is always a dal and a vegetable dish, always a chaat to start, always two curries (one meat and one vegetable on the meat thali; two vegetable on the vegan thali), and the sixth bowl is whatever Kiran wants to cook that week: a Kerala fish curry, a Punjabi kadhi, a railway lamb. Rice, two puris blown up in the fryer as the platter goes out, raita, lime pickle and a sweet. The week's six are on this page by Thursday evening so the regulars can decide, and the heat is a one or a two across the platter so a child and a grandmother can both eat it.
Under-twelves get a smaller platter at £8 with the same dishes minus the pickle, and a glass of mango lassi. The thali runs from half past twelve until four; after four the full menu is on until nine. We do not take bookings for tables under six on a Sunday because the turnover is quick and the queue moves; for six or more, book on the booking page and we hold the table for fifteen minutes. The thali is also available to take away from one o'clock, packed in a compartment box, at the same price less the collection discount.
What is included
- Six bowls, rice, two puris, raita, pickle and a sweet
- A meat thali and a vegan thali
- The six dishes changed weekly, published by Thursday
- Under-twelves £8 with a lassi
- Second helpings £2.50 a bowl
- To take away from one o'clock
What it costs
The thali £16.50 an adult, £8 for under-twelves, the vegan thali £16.50. A second helping of any bowl £2.50. A mango lassi £3.90. The à la carte menu runs after four until nine. The menu page has every dish with its heat, its flags and its price; the takeaway page has the collection time and the delivery zones.
Questions about sunday thali
Do I need to book for the thali?
Not for fewer than six; come early or after three. For six or more, book and we hold the table for fifteen minutes from the time you give.
Is the thali gluten-free?
Everything on it except the puris, which are wheat. Ask for the thali without puris and with extra rice and the whole platter is gluten-free; we cook it on the separate tawa.
A table on Albany Road, or a bag on the counter in twenty-five minutes.
Book a table for dinner, the Sunday thali for six or more, or the back room for twenty on one form, with a reply within the hour while the kitchen is open. For a takeaway, the takeaway page quotes the collection time from the clock and takes ten per cent off.