dishoom chowpatty beach bar

pop-ups and food-trucks are the most ubiquitous face of london in the last couple of months. i've lost track of things that are popping-up be it food and now even arts and crafts. the dishoom chowpatty beach bar on southbank is around till october and is complimented by a faux beach that runs along the concrete rimmed edge of southbank. it's a celebration of colour and brightness and on a sunny june day seemed almost natural. i think i'd find it a bit strange on a typical grey and rainy london day...

inside, it as as much a riot of colour as the materials that have been used to construct it. bottles of coloured drinks run along the bar. a and i loved the quirky t-shirts worn by the staff and also on display for sale. i really loved 'my soul gotta a gola shaped hole' - a pun on the gola drinks that are served in the subcontinent. literally, gola is round. 

still full from our lunch at pitt cue co. a and i sat at dishoom and had drinks. he had limca - a sparkling lemonade reminiscent of the club soda's that we would have in jinnah super during our high school days. british lemonade is very different as it has a rather sour and tart lemon flavour. in limca the lemon is tamed through much sugar and some salt. i tried one of the gola ices. made of crushed ice compacted together in a glass and then doused with a choice of syrups (i had the orange and ginger) they transported me to trips to murree where we made gola's of snow, drizzled them with the viscous and sweet roohafza and then ate them. 

and just when we thought we couldn't get more nostalgic on came a really cheesy old indian tune that a and i both knew well from our early teens. whilst listening to 'chura key dil mera' we spoke about pakistan, the days in which we first began to watch mtv and the funny videos of indian songs where a couple would be dancing in the desert in one shot and in the next they would be in the snowy alps wearing skimpy clothes and gyrating to the song. it spawned our dishoom chowpatty beach bar soundtrack (which i am still awaiting in an email!).

we left dishoom rather reluctantly as i went to see tracy emin spill her insides out at a more than personal exhibit at the hayward and a roamed around the sun. we'll be coming back here especially for the egg naan roll.