Thirteen vegan dishes and twenty-five vegetarian, cooked as dishes rather than as the meat dish without the meat
Vegan and vegetarian
Thirteen of the forty-eight dishes are vegan and twenty-five vegetarian, flagged on every line and filterable on the menu page: chana masala, tarka dal, aloo gobi, bhindi masala, a coconut vegetable korma, an aubergine and tamarind curry, vegetable biryani, pani puri, onion bhaji and more. A vegan thali on Sundays, and a vegan tasting menu for tables of six or more with a day's notice.
Half of India does not eat meat, so a vegetarian menu is not a concession here; it is the half of the cooking Kiran grew up with. The vegan dishes are vegan because they always were (a tarka dal has never had butter in it) or because we changed one thing (the korma base is coconut, not cream), not because we took the chicken out of something and raised the price.
The vegan thirteen: onion bhaji, Punjabi samosa, pani puri, the aubergine and tamarind curry from the specials, vegetable biryani, tarka dal, chana masala, aloo gobi, bhindi masala, the coconut vegetable korma, steamed and pilau rice, and tandoori roti; off the menu, a mango sorbet replaces the kulfi and the Sunday vegan thali is a platter of its own. The vegetarian dishes add paneer (chilli paneer, paneer tikka, saag paneer), dal makhani with its butter, papri chaat with yoghurt, the naans, raita, gulab jamun and kulfi. All of it is on the menu page with the filter set to vegan or vegetarian.
Vegan diners get a vegan thali on Sundays at the same £16.50 as the meat one, six dishes on the same steel platter, and the kitchen can do a seven-course vegan tasting menu for tables of six or more with a day's notice: a chaat, a bhaji, two curries, a dal, a biryani and a sorbet for £32 a head. The ghee question: we cook the vegan dishes in rapeseed oil in their own pans, and the tawa for the vegan breads is separate from the one for the naans, which have yoghurt in the dough.
What is included
- Thirteen vegan dishes, flagged and filterable
- Twenty-five vegetarian dishes
- The vegan Sunday thali, £16.50
- A seven-course vegan tasting menu for six or more
- Vegan dishes cooked in oil in their own pans
- A separate tawa for the vegan breads
What it costs
Vegetable and dal dishes £8.90 to £10.50, the vegetable biryani £13.50, the aubergine and tamarind special £13.90, the vegan Sunday thali £16.50. A vegan tasting menu of seven courses for tables of six or more is £32 a head. 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 vegan and veggie
Is the naan vegan?
No: the naan dough has yoghurt in it. The tandoori roti is vegan and comes from the same oven, and the rice is vegan. The Peshwari naan has coconut and sultanas but still the yoghurt dough.
Can you do a vegan thali on a weekday?
With a day's notice, yes, for two or more. On Sundays it is on without notice from half past twelve.
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.