There’s something anarchic about deliberately spelling the name of your restaurant wrong – and somehow getting away with it. Kricket – a playful nod to the shared British and Indian cultural obsession with the sport – has grown up from its original Brixton pop-up inception in a shipping container. Visit their Soho outpost for a taste of modern Anglo-Indian cooking.
Kricket works – and has been awarded a Bib Gourmand for its efforts by Michelin – because it continues to mix things up in the kitchen. The formula is to take authentic dishes from the Indian subcontinent and then subtly subvert them with using traditional British ingredients. Kricket’s KFC – Keralan fried chicken – is a classic case study. This humble dish (pictured) is elevated using sliced mooli and a wonderfully luscious curry leaf mayonnaise. Sourcing top quality poultry probably also helps. It has apparently become a cult dish at the venue.
A perusal of the menu shows a strong bias towards India’s southern states. The organiser of our lunch insisted we take Kricket’s thali – effectively an all-in-one Indian meal – to best see the kitchen’s efforts. The holy grail for any thali is to offer a perfect balance, soul food for the belly and the senses, marrying sweet, salty, sour, pungent, bitter and astringent inputs. Kricket did pretty well, and the quality of the chicken again stood out. Spicing was thoughtful and portion sizing generous. At £20, a true bargain by Soho standards too.
Atmosphere was somewhat muted on a midweek lunchtime and service efficient if not empathic. At night, however, it is easy to imagine how Kricket may come alive. The restaurant is dominated by a cool horseshoe bar. Downstairs (we sat upstairs) is apparently where much of the action occurs. Each of Kricket’s now four outposts has a slightly different design aesthetic, so there is every excuse to get visiting.