Booma

Indian Small Plates

244 Brixton Rd, SW9 6AH

££

I was never fully convinced of Indian Small Plates restaurants until I tried Tandoor Chop House. After falling helplessly in love with their dark interiors, smokey flavours and indulgent black Dahl I decided that I could maybe look past the hefty plates and BYOB that many of Tooting's restaurants have to offer, and become pleased with a more petit portion. After moving a mere stones throw away from Booma this year, I was eager to try it as soon as lockdown lifted, after many a night gazing longingly into its warmly lit abode from the outdoor table at the pub.

Booma's menu is promisingly small, reassuring you of not only the freshness of ingredients, but also honed skill of each one. Whilst a typical Indian restaurant has an overwhelming amount of choice, these small plates joints cut to the chase and make the art of choosing much easier. Each dish is lovingly paired with the perfect craft beer next to it on the menu, meaning even novices can act smart. We both ordered a Peckham Pale Ale (£4) to wet our palettes, followed by Papadums (£1.6), Onion Bhaji (£5), Dal Makhani (£7.5), Tandoor Chicken (£9) and the Duck Kathi Roll (£8.5).

The Padadums were the first to arrive, different from most and chunked down into bitesize nacho sizes and drizzled with chutney. The tandoor chicken was next, and whilst it had fresh flavour it was a little disappointing - some simple skewers of breast which had barely been charred by the tandoor. The Onion Bhaji's were lovely and crisp, but lacked depth and extra flavour, despite there being some noticeable cumin seeds embedded within them. My beloved black Dal Makhani was good, but no where near the level of competitions such as Dishoom or Tandoor Chop House. Finally, the dish I was looking forward to the most, the Duck Kathi Roll, was the most disappointing of all: the duck was overpowered with carrot and veg (BOO!), whilst the wrap was far too thick for the amount of filling sat within it.

Service was friendly enough, if not a little awkward (our waitress went to the same gym as me and we had both been struggling with weights in the same area earlier that day). However, when we had finished our meal, and wanted to order another beer, we couldn't get anyones attention for over half an hour. This was probably due to the fact that a group of 6 had just arrived which dominated the small space, but there were still 2 waiting staff working and only 4 occupied tables. By the time we eventually got some service we had come to the conclusion we'd sack it off and go to the pub next door.

Booma Booma Booma, it could have been so great, and SO CLOSE to home. Unfortunately, I haven't been tempted by the lockdown takeaway menu as I'd rather spend my money on larger portions elsewhere.

OVERALL RATING: **

https://booma-brixton.co.uk