Kricket

Verdict: Kricket Is Not a Curry House — and That Matters for Your Decision

The most common mistake people make before visiting Kricket in Soho is assuming it fits the familiar template of a London Indian restaurant. It does not. Chef Will Bowlby's cooking draws from India's southern states — Karnataka, Kerala, Goa, and presents those flavours through a modern, small-plates format that has more in common with a sharp European bistro than a traditional subcontinental dining room. If you are coming for a conventional curry-and-naan experience, you will leave confused. If you are coming for technically precise, produce-led Indian cooking at a price point that rarely asks more than ££ per head, you will likely want to return.

Kricket holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand for 2024 and 2025, and has appeared in the Opinionated About Dining Casual Europe rankings across both years, landing at positions #483, #515, #509, and #608 across the two cycles. A 4.5 Google rating across more than 2,400 reviews supports what the awards data implies: this is a consistently performing restaurant, not a one-season wonder. For context on where that sits in London's Indian dining tier, Amaya and Benares operate at a higher price point with more formal service, while Trishna occupies a similar modern-Indian lane in Marylebone. Kricket at ££ offers a more casual entry point than any of those.

The Room: What to Expect When You Walk In

The Soho site on Denman Street was Kricket's first permanent location after a pop-up beginning, and the room reflects that origin story in the leading possible way. The counter running directly in front of the open kitchen is the visual centrepiece, a long, unobstructed line of seats where you watch the kitchen in full motion. This is not a performance element added for atmosphere; it is genuinely the leading seat in the house for understanding what the kitchen is doing and for solo diners or pairs who want engagement over privacy.

Downstairs, the space takes on a noticeably different character, lower light, more contained, better suited to groups or those who prefer conversation over spectacle. The two floors effectively function as different dining experiences within the same address: upstairs is energetic and counter-forward, downstairs is quieter and more suited to a longer, slower meal.

Kricket now operates four London branches, which means the Soho original carries a specific identity, it is where the cooking style was established, and it retains a focused menu that leans into the southern Indian dishes the restaurant built its reputation on.

The Menu and What to Order

The awards data references specific dishes that have become reliable anchors of the menu: Goan sausage croquettes, Keralan fried chicken with curry leaf mayo, and Karnatakan pork neck. These are not decorative flourishes, they represent the culinary geography the kitchen is working with, and if you have eaten here before and missed any of them, they are worth returning for specifically.

If you have visited once and ordered cautiously, the second visit is the one to push further. The menu's strength is in dishes that layer spice complexity without building heat as the dominant note, a distinction that matters if your previous experience of Indian small plates felt either too mild or too aggressive. The format rewards ordering broadly rather than anchoring on one or two dishes; plan for four to six plates for two people and adjust from there.

For diners who want a comparable level of technical ambition in Indian cooking but are willing to spend more, Opheem in Birmingham or Trèsind Studio in Dubai represent what that format looks like at a higher price bracket. Within London, Kricket at ££ sits at the most accessible end of modern Indian fine-casual dining.

Group Dining and the Private Experience

Kricket Soho is not a private dining venue in the formal sense, there is no dedicated private room with a door that closes. The downstairs area, however, functions as a semi-private space that works considerably better for groups of six or more than the counter upstairs. If you are organising a group meal, request downstairs specifically; the layout allows for conversation across the table in a way the counter seating does not.

For groups who want a fully private hire experience with a separate room and a set menu, Kricket is the wrong choice, consider Ambassadors Clubhouse for that format. But for groups of four to eight who want a shared-plates format with good energy and manageable spend, the downstairs room at Kricket works well. The small-plates menu structure suits group dining naturally: dishes arrive across the table and the format encourages shared ordering rather than individual decisions.

For larger groups on tighter budgets in the Indian casual category, Babur in Forest Hill offers more space and a different regional focus. But within Soho and the West End, Kricket's group value at ££ is difficult to match at this quality level.

Booking and Timing

Kricket is rated Easy for booking difficulty, which reflects both the restaurant's size and the multi-branch expansion that has distributed demand across four London sites. You are unlikely to need more than a week's notice for most slots, though weekend evenings in the Soho location will book up faster given its position in a high-footfall area. Lunch is a genuine option here, open Monday through Saturday from noon to 2:30pm, with a more relaxed pace than the evening service.

Sunday hours run noon to 9pm as a continuous service, which makes it one of the better options in Soho for a Sunday afternoon meal that does not require coordinating around a split lunch and dinner window.

Where Kricket Fits in a Wider London Trip

If you are building a broader London restaurant itinerary, Kricket sits comfortably in the casual-to-mid tier of the city's modern Indian category. For the full picture of what London dining looks like across price points and cuisines, see our full London restaurants guide. For hotels near Soho, our London hotels guide covers the area well. If you are extending beyond London, the UK has a strong set of destination restaurants worth considering: The Fat Duck in Bray, L'Enclume in Cartmel, Moor Hall in Aughton, Gidleigh Park in Chagford, Hand and Flowers in Marlow, and hide and fox in Saltwood are all worth planning around. For drinks and bars in the West End, our London bars guide covers pre- and post-dinner options near Soho. For day-trip context, our London wineries guide and our London experiences guide round out the picture.