Hot stuff to keep cool

Summertime chaat should not be a bleat about how we'd all rather be anywhere than London during this heatwave (official), but the perfect food for hot weather.

Chaat are savoury, sprightly, tingling snacks served as street food in India. At this small, simply appointed, almost exactly one-year-old Hammersmith restaurant there is a special summer menu homing in on chaat (pronounced chart) on offer until the end of the month.

Spicy food may bead your brow, but it also serves to cool you down. Yoghurt is soothing. Pomegranate seeds, mango powder, cumin, ginger, black salt, mint, tamarind, coriander and chilli powder all help revive a wilting palate. Add to this crisp shells of fried dough and ticklish sev and you have ideal diverting dishes, priced from £3 to £4.50, served in sizes suitable for sharing and grazing.

The varieties we liked best were gol-gol-gappa - said to be Delhi's most popular street snack - of puffed wheat spheres filled with chickpeas, potatoes, mint and coriander; the Portuguese-inspired pao bhaji, a soft, toasted, buttered bun served with a spicy vegetable mix; and dahi sev poori which is flat, crisp biscuits under a blanket of yoghurt, chutneys and mango powder.

Before these arrived we were given fillets of tilapia fish on a delicious sauce made with coconut, ginger, lime and curry leaf. I must admit that I know the manager/co-owner Neeraj Mittra from when he was at Chutney Mary and the chef/proprietor Gowtham Karingi from when he was at Veeraswamy and Zaika, and so maybe the ensuing long waits between courses could have been due to an extra tweaking of a coriander sprig here or an especially careful placing of a clove there, but it might just have been heat-induced languor. The unadorned, barewood restaurant was busy but not full.

Because chef Karingi comes from Hyderabad, we ordered a biryani, since Hyderabad is the home of that dish of fragrant rice cooked with other ingredients - chicken was our choice - in a sealed pot. It was terrific, the pieces of chicken (thigh I think) juicy and flavourful.

Lamb dalcha, also from Hyderabad, was excellent and I would warmly recommend bhagare aubergine, the vegetable cooked with ginger and peanuts.

Ordering a thali, a complete meal on a plate, is an effortless and even more economic way of eating. Attention is paid to the heath-giving properties of ingredients and particular combinations, and among the teas and infusions there are vatsyayan potions, one for men, one for women.

If it is still hot when you go to Agni, don't miss the kulfi (milk-based ice) for dessert, especially the one made with ginger and cinnamon.

Agni
160 King Street, W6 0QU