Everybody has their favourite Indian restaurant in London. It might be the cheap-as-chips takeaway at the end of your road, or perhaps something more extravagant and experimental. And Mayfair is where you’ll find the highest concentration of the latter – Michelin stars, palace-style interiors, and all. So, with that in mind, here are seven contenders for your next favourite Indian restaurant – all in Mayfair.
Ambassadors Clubhouse
Mayfair’s Indian restaurant scene apparently needed some more razzle-dazzle. That appears to be the ethos at the glitzy new Ambassadors Clubhouse, anyway, which opened last month on Heddon Street. It’s the 27th (!) restaurant by restaurant group JKS, and it’s clear they’ve hit their stride with this one, from the dark, glitzy interiors to the line-up of high-profile DJs playing every weekend. Get the feasting menu to share (there’s more than enough for two) and make sure to try the guinea fowl changezi – we’ve been dreaming about it ever since.
25 Heddon St, W1B 4BH
BiBi
Nonna who? It’s all about Urdu grandmas – bibis – on North Audley Street. Named after chef Chet Sharma’s grandmother, the menu offers elevated takes on dishes that, Sharma has previously said, any Bibi could recognise. But that’s not to say it’s not fancy. The mock Rajasthani room gleams with chandeliers and paisley print panels, with the best seats up at the mango wood counter where you can chat with the chefs as they prepare your food (but be warned: you’ll want to order everything you see).
42 North Audley St, W1K 6ZP
Benares
You almost can’t move for menus claiming to be where ‘tradition meets modernity’ in London, but Benares is one of the few cases where this description actually makes sense. Each dish cleverly blends modern cooking techniques with instantly recognisable flavours and spices from across India – like, an oyster and sea bream ceviche-style chaat, served over dry ice to mimic a sea mist. Couple that with a prime Berkely Square location and a long-standing Michelin star and you can see why this has been many Londoners’ favourite Indian for the last 20 years.
12a Berkeley Sq, W1J 6BS
Gymkhana
Securing a reservation at Gymkhana tends to be tricky (unless you’re a Quintessentially member, of course). The consistently booked-out spot has held its Michelin star since 2014, with diners and critics consistently impressed by its splurge-happy dishes that wouldn’t seem out of place in a Mumbai members’ club (nor would the brooding dark wood interiors). Make sure to drop by upstairs cocktail lounge, 42, for an Indian-inspired post-dinner drink – the masala margarita is our current fave.
42 Albemarle St, W1S 4JH
Bombay Bustle
When we say Bombay Bustle is inspired by India’s railway coaches, we don’t mean the overstuffed carriages that get commuters from A to B. We mean the decadently designed, first-class carriages of days gone by – carriages that look a bit like Bombay Bustle’s soft green and dark mahogany interiors, in fact. The menu is also mimics life on the move, with dishes inspired by Mumbai’s dabbawalla lunchbox deliveries – like, samosa papdi chaat and tangra chilli chicken.
29 Maddox St, W1S 2PA
Kanishka by Atul Kochhar
Just seeing the name Atul Kochhar instantly signals that this is no ordinary Indian restaurant. After all, he was the first Indian chef to win a Michelin star in 2001. Fast forward to 2019 and we arrive at Kanishka, which offers more of Kochhar’s now-signature fusion of flavours – why you’ll see Anglo-accented dishes like chicken tikka pie on the menu. Other unmissable plates include the jal tarang (a scallop topped with crispy chicken skin) and bayter ki galawati (Norfolk quail galettes made with flaky paratha and chilli tamarind caviar).
17–19 Maddox St, W1S 2QH
Jamavar
You’ll find Jamavar on Mount Street – it’s the yellow awning opposite Dr. Barbara Sturm’s boutique. But you’ll also find it in Dubai, Doha, and four Indian cities as part of the culinary programme at The Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts. The London outpost arrived in 2016, offering a culinary tour of India from the royal palaces of the north to the sizzling spices of the south. And there is something rather regal about sitting in a room designed to look like the Viceroy’s house and eating lobster neeruli, don’t you think?
