TALLI JOE BOTTOMLESS BRUNCH

Last weekend, I paid a visit to Talli Joe, a casual all-day Indian restaurant centrally located on Shaftesbury Avenue, serving up vibrant, smart-looking sharing plates that deliver the undiscovered regional flavours of India straight to your table. On this occasion, we tried out their Tasty Talli Brunch Menu which enables you to enjoy a variety of regional Indian dishes with bottomless prosecco for a duration of 90 minutes. I haven’t had a talli in ages, and anything with Prosecco (especially when it’s bottomless) catches my attention immediately.

There was Crispy Pavakkai; crispy fried bitter gourd sprinkled with zesty citrus salt and pickled onions. As a child, I used to dislike bitter gourd (and bitter things in general), but these were beautifully crisp and golden with only a slight hint of bitterness. Another vegetarian plate was the Indore Style Chana Chaat, a favourite street food of India which was a chickpea and potato chaat with spicy and tangy chutney.

I really enjoyed the Prawn Balchao and ordered extra portions of this Goan-style curry prawns that were really fresh and had a nice level of spiciness. The Venison Kheema Paratha is their take on the enriching paratha from Lucknow, warm naan stuffed with spiced mince and brushed with Ghee.

Another favourite was the Old Delhi Butter Chicken Pulao which is a proud dish for North Indians. I really loved the tender chargrilled chicken that was finely pulled and cooked in fresh tomato, seasoned with fenugreek that gave a subtle nuttiness, and mixed with perfectly cooked pulao. And of course there was roasted papad that is a great companion for any tasty Indian dish, alongside some Bengali style tomato chutney that had a good balance of sweetness and sharpness to it.

We finished on a sweet note with the Tender Coconut Pudding, a South Indian style dessert with a twist of coconut, topped with poached berries.

Overall, we had a lovely experience – service was prompt and efficient, the food was good and I like that fact that we could order extra portions of particular dishes once we had finished. It is definitely something that I would consider having again when I’m craving Indian food. Their regular menu also looks good and is worth checking out.

The Tasty Talli Brunch Menu, reasonably priced at £35pp, is available every Saturday from 12noon – 3pm. Check out their website for further information on menus and opening hours.

• I was a guest at Talli Joe, but all views and photos remain my own.