On the quiet backstreets of Barnsbury, The Tamil Prince has recently opened, taking over a nice whitewashed corner pub building that was previously called the Cuckoo. As you can tell from the name change this is no simple change of management – the pub has been taken over and reinvented by an ex-Roti King duo, chef Prince Durairaj and Glen Leeson. So now we have a mash up of a classic London pub but with food inspired by Prince’s childhood home of Tamil Nadu in southern India. And it’s a very good combination indeed.
With the team coming from London fave Roti King we were expecting a strong display from the kitchen and got exactly that. Small plates brought crisp battered okra fries, the perfect beer snack, and one of our favourite dishes of the night, a pulled beef uttapam with chilli coconut chutney. For the uninitiated, an uttapam is like a light fluffy pancake made with lentil and rice flour and is unbelievably delicious, especially when topped with rich spiced beef and that chilli chutney.
Next came three HUGE prawns the size of small lobsters which had been grilled in a spicy tomato sauce. We also loved the lamb curry (it’s usually made with chicken but they’d run out!), as well as the the channa bhatura, a huge puffed up fried bread served with a chickpea curry. Do not miss the beautiful fresh, flaky roti bread either. Safe to say after all that we couldn’t fit in dessert but they did look good, especially the gulab jamun with ice cream.
With some top south Indian dishes served in a relaxed pub environment and good beers and cocktails too, The Tamil Prince is a royally good addition to the neighbourhood.
115 Hemingford Road, London N1 1BZ
thetamilprince.com