JAMAVAR INDIAN RESTAURANT
Forget your Chicken Tikka Masala ! The real Indian food has finally come to London.
From the The Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts group, managing director Dinesh Nair has successfully bought us a succulent menu that offers the best dishes from the North and the South of India. The kitchen team is led by Executive Chef Rohit Ghai who is of Michelin starred Benares, Gymkhana, and Trishna fame. Jamavar pride themselves on having a charcoal tandoori oven, as opposed to the normal gas tandoori oven. This most certainly takes the tandoori flavour to another level. And all of us agreed that is by far the best tandoori food in London and not to be missed.
The restaurants décor is a cleverly thought out concept that manages to give a warm and welcoming feel, in a sophisticated and plush, Asian environment. It has the perfect balance of calm but lively, in a refined but cosy ambiance and it all works together very well.
We had the Tasting Menu, which was a “lotta lotta” food ! And each course just got better and better.
The first dish was the Scallop Bhel - hand caught seared scallop on puffed rice, tamarind date chutney but we swapped this for the :
Dal Chawal Aur Achaar but for some of us this was a little too spicy.
Malai Stone bass Tikka - Mace, green cardamom & avocado chutney
Kid Goat Shami Kebab - black cardamom, mint chutney & chur curparatha
Prawn Mappass - raw mango, mustard seeds & shallots - we swapped this dish for:
Aubergine Chettinad - spieces stuff baby eggplant, stone fungus and pakora
Pista Burfi, Badam halwa - dried milk, orange murabba, almonds
The next dish was Lobster however we swapped this out for the:
Chandni Chowk Ki Aloo Tikki - potato tikki, honey yoghurt, white radish and tamarind mint chutney
Chocolate Melt in the Middle Pudding
They also have a great vegetarian option
The dessert was actually a chocolate melt in the middle pudding with a few pinches of Indian spices thrown in. It was very nice but after so much food it was a real struggle to manage to get through this rich dessert. Personally even though this pudding was amazing, I would have preferred a lighter and more refreshing Kulfi.
On the evening we visited the restaurant, we saw the Miami Vice star Don Johnson snuck away in a corner.
This is without doubt THE best Indian tandoori food in London and we give this a 9.5 out of 10 for London Indian restaurants.
Jamavar Indian Restaurant
8 Mount Street,
Mayfair,
London
W1K 3NF
020 7499 1800
http://www.jamavarrestaurants.com/
reservations@jamavarrestaurants.com