Restaurant review: Kanishka, fine Indian dining

The dining room at Kanishka, Mayfair — (Image credit: Kanishka)

Kanishka, tucked just out of the hustle and bustle of London's Regent Street, is a confident expression of the joys of various cuisines from across the Indian sub-continent, with one or two choice influences from elsewhere.

Every element has the essence of Indian food at its core. Dishes are elevated in style but without compromising on substance and big, impactful flavours. Even the poppadoms (£8) that kick things off come in a glorious basket of assorted shapes and colours, accompanied by a trio of exquisite chutneys (a tantalisingly sour gooseberry, mellow sweet mixed berry and hot, sweet lime chilli pickle).

One of the restaurant's most iconic dishes is the chicken tikka pie (£21), so it’s a must-have as a starter. It’s surprisingly delicate; a modest disc of fine pastry that flakes away to reveal welcoming, buttery chicken on the inside, the spicing subtle but clever. On the side is another wonderful berry chutney, this one rich and fruity to offset the pie’s savoury allure.

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The starter that really grabbed me, though, was the jalpari nilgiri (£23); hand-dived Orkney scallops, seared to absolute perfection, dusted with caviar and a crunchy take on furikake (a Japanese mixture consisting of dried fish eggs, sesame seeds and seaweed flakes) that packs solid umami punch, without overpowering the scallops. Throw in a zingy, bright green korma sauce that pings excitedly around your palate, awakening taste buds you never even knew you had, and this goes down as one of my all-time favourite scallop dishes.

Kanishka’s menu is devilishly difficult to choose a main from, especially for someone with gastronomic FOMO as bad as mine. After much deliberation, and revelling in the thought of Cornish halibut with malai curry or fallow venison fillet with juniper garam masala, I opted for two of the more traditional-sounding options: Chettinaad Kodi curry (£30) a chicken curry with peppers, chilli and coconut, and a deconstructed laal maas (£36).

Translating literally as ‘red meat’, laal maas is a mutton or lamb curry from Rajasthan, but since we’re in Mayfair, this deconstructed version takes a decadently tender slab of Lake District lamb rump, chunks of hot, almost neon-yellow turnip, a blob of wild garlic sauce and a side pot of the curry itself (with chunks of braised lamb floating around inside, you know, for extra lamb). It is divine. The lamb is bold and gamey, flaking away with the gentlest suggestion from a knife, while the sauce is rich and smoky with spiced tomato.

The Chettinaad Kodi curry is wonderful as well; superbly cooked chicken wallows in a mellow, silky smooth sauce, sweetly and cunningly spiced. Alongside this – to try one of the vegetable dishes on what is, admittedly, a very meat- and fish-heavy menu – I had an Aachari Kathal kofta (£29); jackfruit dumpling in Achari korma. These are like dense, fluffy croquettes, coated in another one of those smooth, smothering sauces that flits between touches of sweet, sour, warmth and nuttiness.

Dessert is a walnut and chenna cake (£15), moist with the occasional crunch of walnut and, thanks to the curd cheese frosting, not overpoweringly sweet. It also comes with a smooth, light cinnamon custard that binds the whole thing together.

If you are a lover of sub-continental food in all its variety, then this is a must-try restaurant. It has refined this storied and distinctive cuisine, without losing any of its essence in the process.

Dan was a guest of Kanishka.

Dan is a financial journalist who, prior to joining MoneyWeek, spent five years writing for OPTO, an investment magazine focused on growth and technology stocks, ETFs and thematic investing.

Before becoming a writer, Dan spent six years working in talent acquisition in the tech sector, including for credit scoring start-up ClearScore where he first developed an interest in personal finance.

Dan studied Social Anthropology and Management at Sidney Sussex College and the Judge Business School, Cambridge University. Outside finance, he also enjoys travel writing, and has edited two published travel books.