Amaya London

Situated in a beautiful little enclave and tucked away from the main roads, you would not know about this restaurant unless you were searching the Michelin Guide or had heard from word of mouth (or me!). Drivers will often not notice as they pass by. Not a bad thing as it means most who go there are going for the food, which, thankfully is reassuringly well done.

Some repeat dishes on this third visit including the superb chicken coconut wraps and wonderful sweet and sour chutney to go with plain naans. I felt the goats cheese salad was a little overpowered by the mandarin and that to make the dish better it could have had less of it and the skin removed – this sort of effort would be more synonymous with a 2 Michelin starred restaurant.

Some repeat dishes on this third visit including the superb chicken coconut wraps and wonderful sweet and sour chutney to go with plain naans. I felt the goats cheese salad was a little overpowered by the mandarin and that to make the dish better it could have had less of it and the skin removed – this sort of effort would be more synonymous with a 2 Michelin starred restaurant.

The service was very attentive and hospitable on this occasion however, the suprise was that after one hair was found in the rose petal chutney (which is careless) and this replaced, a second hair was found on the chili lamb. This shows that there was either a rushed or non inspection at the pass or simply not enough care put in to the presentation full stop. The restaurant did however offer a courtesy dessert and dropped the service charge off the bill for the lapse. This was obviously warmly received and I have to say both desserts were in fact utterly gorgeous and actually the stars of the show.

All in all, another very pleasant series of dishes. Just a shame that the execution wasn’t quite there today.

Particular highlights were the chicken and coconut in lettuce and the care taken on the selection of rhubarb, tomato, peanut and rose petal chutneys. The black pepper chicken seems to be a proud highlight remaining on the menu since my last visit four years ago. Popadoms are not served owing to the establishment not wishing guests to become too full on these and detract from the main cooking which is perfectly logical. It was also lovely to see the different cooking methods for an added element of theatre.

This was a particualrly well done series of tapas sized dishes of Indian food from all regions of the country. The heritage of the cooking is set in a ‘crystal glass belgravia’ setting and the food did not dissapoint in anyway. Service was a little inconsistent and needed some refining but was heartfelt and welcoming all the way through. A lovely meal and afternoon, leaving only a proper evening tasting menu / experience to be had here, which I think will be absolutely worth doing.

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