The Tamil Prince new menu review: Still a star gastropub
The Tamil Prince is the sort of London boozer-cum-restaurant that’s so achingly cool it could do with being taken down a peg or two. It’s a shame I can’t be the one to do that.
If you’ve been to The Marksman, another hipster pub-turned-restaurant (this one in east London), you’ll know the vibe The Tamil Prince is going for. If you haven’t, book both immediately.
The South Indian menu is served in the innards of a former pub where Britney Spears blares from the speakers, a f*** you to the idea that lauded restaurants need to take themselves seriously. (If Clare Smyth can play The Ramones from her thrice-Michelin- starred dining room then I don’t see why Britney can’t work in Islington.)
The tea, here gets that we’re all busy and has devised a menu that allows you to relax rather than have to do any thinking, God forbid.
The menu has been updated for the first time since opening in June 2022 and everything still sings. In the open kitchen chefs throw ingredients around with the suggestion that they could do this from their deepest sleep.
From the small plates, the new masala dosa is a fragile, neat little folded pancake filled with comfortingly spiced potato and served with an array of chutneys. My expert analysis? It has a brilliant crunch to goo ratio.
The king prawn and curry leaf varuval is spicier, punchier, and comes with enormous, meaty prawns. It’s big enough that it could be a main, but that’s kind of the point: you mix and match as you go.
Of the new large plates, my Indian friend points to the vegetable moilee as the most authentic. It is a simple, creamy coconut stew and is great spread on the springy charred roti. It’s also a signifier of Tamil Prince’s significant vegetarian and vegan range. The lamb chops remain and are what everyone’s writing home about. Cooked robata style over hot charcoal, the lamb is marinated for 18 hours; exquisite.
The Tamil Prince manages to be that rare thing in London restaurants: fun. There are even espresso martinis pepped up with Indian ingredients. What more could you want?