Imli

lenalouise

delicious indian tapas 17th August 2009

1 found this helpful

I was taken to Imli by an Indian work colleague one Friday night. The theme is Indian tapas which suited me down to the ground...I like being able to try more dishes! tee hee. I let Hardic choose as he knew which dishes were more authentic. There were a few that I had that you just wouldn't get in a standard Indian restaurant.

The two most memorable were papdi chaat which is "whole wheat crisps and bean sprouts with vermicelli, sweet yoghurt and mint chutney". The different textures and flavours went really well together. You got the creamy sweetness of the yoghurt combined with the different spiced crispy bits, yum! The other dish was paani puri where you get crisp puffballs and a jar of this tangy liquid that you pour into the puffball and eat in one go. It was out of this world!! So tasty and refreshing at the same time. I just wanted more, it was so good. We also shared one of the set menus aswell between the 3 of us and ended up being totally stuffed. Perfect :D

At the moment they're doing an offer where if you keep the receipt and bring it with you next time, you get 25% off your next meal. Will be going back soon methinks.

LouiseMarston

Great light food in Soho 21st March 2009

1 found this helpful

An 'Indian tapas' where you order small plates to share. You end up with something like a thali, if you order right, with lots of little tastes. The plates are good value (we spent £20 per head including beer), and have good flavours. Chennai fish was crisp and tasty, and Southern Lamb had good flavours.
Nothing exceptional in the food, but good, basic stuff, and pretty fast service.

carum

Great Value 3rd September 2008

0 found this helpful

Imli Restaurant is situated in the centre of London’s Soho. The restaurant is run by the same people as the tamarind restaurant that i think won a Michelin star. Imli takes an Indian slant on the Spanish food tradition of tapas . The decor is very colourful and vibrant decked with dark wood floors and ambient lighting. Staff are very friendly and recommend for you to order about 3 dishes per person which is great for light dinner. They serve cobra here which is now a must for all Indian restaurant. Overall very reasonably priced quality food in central London. In one word bargin.

QueenB

More please! 10th January 2008

3 found this helpful

This was a last minute booking yesterday, after originally planning to try Below Zero but after an awful customer service experience with them we cancelled and I so glad we did!!!

Wednesday eve, a chilled afterwork dinner with the other half and it was just what we needed.

The staff were helpful and advised us how much to order and what dishes worked well together. The food arrived at regular intervals as it was ready which was nice as you didn't feel overwhelmed.
We enjoyed a mix of:

Mushroom Tikki
Seafood platter
Masala grilled beef
Lamb Biryani
Masala grilled chicken
Pav Bhaji

We loved all of it!
My favourite was the seafood platter, the salmon fishcake was spicier than i think it should of been for a fish dish but was cooked well.
Our eyes were bigger than our bellies and had to leave some of it sadly (we were advised that 4/5 dishes would be plenty but my hungry partner thought he would need more!)
The cumin and tumeric mash that comes with the masala meats is just yummy and so morish.

I'd agree about the restaurant it's self, had quite a cold feeling to it and the lighting is rather harsh. i would also imagine, had it of been busy, it would get quite noisy.

They also do a lunch take-out service and local delivery - if I had known aboutthis place when I worked in Soho, I'd already of been a regular!

So, all that food, 2 cobra beers, 2 sparkling waters and service charge, then using my TasteLondon card came to £41!

Fantatsic deal and will def be back and spreading the word.

gilka

imli 5th January 2008

1 found this helpful

The only thing I don't like about this place is the deco.
It feels very fake but the food is fantastic and unique.
Staff is well chosen.
Definitely worth a visit.

t0m

Good value, and excellent food 18th November 2007

2 found this helpful

We took up the current TfL/Oyster card deal (half price tasting menu, £12.50 each). It was relatively quiet at lunch time on a Saturday, but the service was good.

The offer is pretty good value, you end up tasting about 10 dishes or so, and the flavours are diverse and pretty exciting. I personally preferred the starter type tapas - the flavours were far more interesting. The 'main courses' were still good, but most of them were too heavily spiced for my taste, drowning out some of the delicious flavours that were obviously present.

Nonetheless, I left thoroughly impressed, and will return.

elliemoff

30th July 2007

2 found this helpful

We went here on Friday following the favourable reviews below and it didn't disapoint. Not sure about the decor - it was more fitting of a sushi place or the like but the food was excellent.

My boyfriend insisted on the banana pancakes with some kind of curry sauce which sounds strange but was actually quite nice. The Goan pork was good but a bit too spicy for me.

Service was with a smile and the cocktails were reasonable.

Definitely will be going back although would not recommend for a 'special occasion' type of place.

bombaybeauty

6th July 2007

3 found this helpful

The Busabai Eathai of Indian places, or so it should be. Good food, reasonable prices, lively flavors, and moderate serving sizes. I find it hard to explain why this place isn't more popular. Perhaps the decor which is a bit industrial generic. In any case, food is good, though note that serving sizes and formats, and the dishes themselves, are not your typical curry house fare (indeed better).

PhotographyJim

Inexpensive India resturant with great food and near Soho 6th June 2007

7 found this helpful

My first experience of Imli was when I saw its website. Clean design, uncluttered navigation and great images...things looked promising, especially after I read it had been awarded Best Indian Restaurant in the UK by the Good Curry Guide.

The question was, how would it fare in reality?

Situated at the top of end of Wardour Street (the part closest to Tottenham Court Road), Imli's location has two distinct advantages:

1) It is easy to get to on your way into Soho for a night on the town, but…
2) It is unlikely to be discovered by drunken lads and lasses who have spent several hours on the lash and now want a "ruby murray" before they stagger off home.

(Not that there's anything wrong with that, but it's nice to think that people are visiting the restaurant for the food, rather than they've got the munchies and want to get into an competition with their mates about who can eat the Phal.)

As with most restaurants in this area, if you go on a Friday or Saturday night it's advisable to book...although we only had to wait 10 minutes before getting a table - which gave me and my mate a good opportunity to see what was on the menu and try to get our heads around the concept of Indian tapas - it turns out its rather like Spanish tapas...you order a series of dishes which turn up when they're ready and you share them with your friends.

The menu was pretty broad and divided up into "Light and Refreshing" (e.g. mushroom tikki, spiced potatoes cakes and samosas), "New traditions" (e.g. seafood platter, grilled coley fish and masla grilled beef) "Signature Dishes" (e.g. Goan Pork and Southern Lamb curry), a "Taste of Imli" (four dishes selected by the chef which changes each week) and of course deserts - everything from rice pudding to carrot fudge and chocolate and orange zest ice cream.

Drinks are reasonably priced for a restaurant central London and range from Cobra and Kingfisher beer to passion fruit and mango & strawberry lassis.

Service was friendly and efficient - all our tapas had arrived with 5 minutes of each other meaning you could mix dishes together if you wanted.

And as for the food...the chef obviously knows what he's doing. The dishes were delicious and full of flavour and lacked the excessive fiery heat I've experienced some other Indian restaurants, which not only obliterates the true taste of the dish, but makes also makes it more a challenge rather than a pleasure.

Individual portions weren't massive, but even a committed foodie such as myself couldn't finish everything. (Personally I would go for the five dishes between two people, rather than the recommended six)

And six of the main dishes, wine and a couple of beers will probably set you back around £25 a head - a bargain!

A great place if you want to impress, but don't want have to spend too much money doing it!

JenMac

4th April 2007

1 found this helpful

Amazing food. well worth a visit.