What's the draw
Just around the corner from the throng of Cambridge Circus sits Talli Joe, whose (admittedly loose) concept is based on pitting cocktails against modern Indian small plates. Sit, sup, and graze till you're full.
What to drink
Talli is Indian slang for tipsy, which is very much the aim of the game when it comes to making your way through a cocktail list designed to evoke the different Indian regions' flavours. We started with the Day in Delhi, a mix of dark rum, biryani oil and lentil and rice syrup that's served straight-up – sweeter than the ingredients suggest, but with a spicy savoury sting in the tail.
What to eat
Did someone say "Indian-street-food-inspired sharing plates"? Yes – we did, actually. Talli's isn't an all-encompassing, cohesive type of menu menu; the only thing the dishes have in common is that they're pretty much all moreish, delicious, and a little unconventional. We loved Konkani seafood curry, which leans towards East Asia in its hot, sweet, lightly piquant coconut broth, and Nihari nalli, a little pot of lamb curry served with two not-so-little bones. Spread the marrow on the accompanying roti, dip it in the curry, repeat, and dare yourself to leave more than 5 seconds between mouthfuls. We couldn't.
Dinner and cocktails for two, about £60. 152-156 Shaftesbury Avenue, WC2H 8HL; tallijoe.com
