FRENCH COLONIAL HISTORY AND CULINARY EMPIRE.CHINESE IN LONDON ON THE CUSP OF OMICRON.A JOURNEY TO ISRAEL…VIA EASTERN EUROPE, NEW YORK & MIAMI.They are both “anchored” and are just far enough away from the radiant heat of the grill and the ovens. The space, with its sultry lighting, sophistication and open kitchen theater (with plenty of shooting flames) is sleek, chic and current. Plus, they appear to have thrown in the towel on food photography.Īnd the food here is superb – perhaps more refined than Gymkhana, possibly not as purely authentic, maybe with a flavor profile geared more to a western plate. So as far as I’m concerned, you can go to hell!”ĭid that make me an ugly American? (Joanne would answer in the affirmative.)īut not being ones to hold a grudge (and being culinary whores for whom food trumps any sense of embarrassment), we’ve returned several times over the past few years. I answered for him: “I think this plate of food now belongs to me. “Does it belong to you? Or does it now belong to me?” I questioned him as to who this food actually belonged to now that I was eating it. While using a regular camera to photograph my food, I was approached by a manager who rather rudely and forcefully told me to stop, and to stop NOW. My first experience with Amaya, in the pre-iPhone era, did not end well.
Now, on to another Michelin-starred Indian restaurant: AMAYA. You’ll love it – especially if you speak Hindi. And if you don’t mind noise and frenzy (in the business, we call that “energy”), then book a table at Gymkhana. Why couldn’t we simply choose and order without subjecting him to a never-ending series of questions and translations? The frenzied nature of the dining room didn’t help either.ĭon’t’ get me wrong: The food at Gymkhana is really, really good. It required several trips on our waiter’s part to come to our table and translate. Everything we tried was very, very good.īut in a restaurant that caters to a primarily non-Hindi-speaking clientele (based on the mix of our fellow diners), the lengthy menu written almost entirely in Hindi, without translation, has to be as irritating for the servers as it is for the diner. I’m all for un-dumbed-down flavors that remain true to their origins – and as far as I know, each dish fit that bill. Get table #16….a corner table for two.Īnd that’s one of the things that troubled me about Gymkhana: their slavery to authenticity in ways that frustrate rather than intrigue or delight. A sensational newcomer is JAMAVAR, on Mount Street, right in the heart of Mayfair. CHUTNEY MARY, also near Green Park, remains excellent – although in this newer space the restaurant seems to have lost some of the ambience from its previous spot in Chelsea. TAMARIND, near Green Park is as noisy as it is buzzy, so try to get a table on the perimeter.
Our first experience in London was THE BOMBAY BRASSERIE in Kensington – still going strong since 1982. They’re all different, yet all about the same price. So if anyone out there is contemplating a trip to London, stay tuned. And while no major markets in the United States – except perhaps New York – have embraced any form of Indian polished dining, London is thriving.ĭue to our ongoing research, particularly for CHINO LATINO, Joanne and I have been fortunate over the years to sample and screen the best of the best for you. Joanne and I love the variety of cuisines that India has to offer. Today, some 300,000 Indians reside in London alone. Although Indian and Pakastani immigration to England had flourished under British Colonial Rule, it was after World War II and the breakup of the British Empire that the numbers dramatically increased…mainly from the Punjab region.
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