Coimbatore’s Britain to Bombay 1800 offers salads, pastas, and sandwiches inspired by the West 

Newly-opened Britain to Bombay 1800 offers gourmet burgers, pastas, and more with a twist, serenaded by 80s jazz music.

Jazz music from the 80s serenades us as dusk sets in: the day has just begun at the newly-opened Britain to Bombay 1800. The restaurant is a cosy little space on a terrace. The 35-seater is a little over a month old and serves a selection of interesting salads, burgers, pastas, sourdough sandwiches, chicken wings and beverages.

Pratheep Mohan, one of the five partners who run the place, always craved the fish and chips and burgers he enjoyed while on trips to places such as Singapore and England, once back home. “I wished I could order them on a food delivery app,” he chuckles. Britain to Bombay 1800 offers such quick eats popular in the West, with a little bit of tweaking to suit the Indian palate. “We wanted to offer something that bridged the gap between gourmet burgers and the frozen ones available at fast food joints,” says P Sidharth, who is the brain behind the restaurant.   

The evening kicks-off with the aptly-named summer tangerine, a citrusy salad that consists of lettuce tossed with roasted nuts with a Mandarin sweet orange dressing. It sets the tone for what is to come: exciting textures and smooth, well-defined flavours. Next up are the bang bang prawns, that (pun intended) arrive with a bang. The deep-fried prawns, with a nice crispy crust, have that perfect texture: a little crunch that gives way to soft insides.

The chicken wings — one of their highlights — come in six variations and we try two of them: Bombay wings and AK-47. The former, coated in a fragrant coriander-based marinade, is one of those quick eats that one can keep popping in. The latter, though, a tad too spicy, is not for the weak-hearted. While at starters, we also try the cottage cheese bullets. The oval, gulab jamun-sized bullets, are deep-fried, bursting with a gooey inside as we bite in.

Britain to Bombay 1800 takes its sauces seriously. Pratheep says that they prefer making everything from scratch instead of going in for packaged ones with predictable flavours. “Which is why we spent time curating the menu,” he says. This shows: in their plating to the taste, down to the selection of music. The harissa cottage cheese risotto, for instance, one of their signature dishes, comes with a mild, nutty harissa sauce, served with a soft bed of rice and cheese, a cloud-like paneer steak and boiled vegetables on the side. The dish is a winner, only to be surpassed by the cilantro fish.

The fish — sea bass — is grilled with a coriander-based marinade, and is served with mashed potatoes and steamed vegetables. It is so tender that it feels like biting through butter; the marinade is not too spicy, and the mashed potatoes are perfect to the T. As the evening wears on, we order a drink: the cooler drop, a refreshing mocktail of lime and cranberry juice with hints of vanilla. The dessert section is limited, and we try their warm, gooey brownies. There are tres leches and tiramisu too, but we give them a pass, however tempting they are.

Pratheep says that they plan to introduce an English and American breakfast from 8am to 11pm, adding that they also hope to offer a selection of North Indian food. For now, though, they are happy being a warm place on a windy terrace where diners stretch their feet under garden umbrellas as the stars come out to play.