What's it all about?
A posh Indian dining spot since 1982, Bombay Brasserie is now being overseen by Sriram Aylur, chef at Michelin-starred Quilon.
Where is it?
In the exalted environs of Gloucester Road, conveniently within staggering distance of Gloucester Road tube station.
Who's it suitable for?
Given the amount of hotels in the vicinity, it's a perfectly acceptable place for foreign businessmen in need of a working lunch, several notches above the local curry house. It's date territory too, with the necessary glam touches for upmarket Indian dining.
Where should we meet for pre-dinner drinks?
The bar as you walk in is a great spot for a few gin and tonics, attractively lit coupled with some comfy chairs that you can recline into. They'll mix you decent cocktails too. The area isn't blessed with classy watering holes, so it's either one of the nearby pubs, or start your evening in the right fashion and head straight to the restaurant.
Where should we sit?
The main room as you walk in opens out to a big airy space, is high ceilinged and feels fairly grand. There's a conservatory type extension to the room, but you'll want to sit down in this first room - any of the corner tables will give you privacy as well as a good spot to survey the rest of the room and diners, if that's your thing.
What should we order?
We liked the starters of Sev Batata Puri, biscuit-like puris topped with a potato mix, gram flour and chutney, a classic that's been on the menu forever. Pan-fried Tilapia fish is coated in a masala spicing, not too punchy on the heat spectrum, and fat and juicy scallops on peppered crab are served on top of excellent brown crab meat.
The Palak Pakodi Chaat is a deceptively light dish of crisply fried baby spinach, yoghurt and date chutney, and a good dish to share. The tandoor dishes are a speciality, and you should wade into dishes like the marinated spring chicken, half a chicken thrust into the heat of the tandoor until it gains a flavoursome carapace, or tandoori salmon.
We tried a selection of curries, the finest being a fiery lamb Rogan Josh, and a delicately spiced chicken Xacuti, a Goan dish sparking with sweet spices, cinnamon dominating. Prawn Balchao was another dish of some subtlety, cooked with Goan vinegar, chilli and fried curry leaves. Sweetish, tomatoey and tangy all at once.
A grandly presented aubergine dish had some deeply smoky aubergine within a hollowed out aubergine, a bit style over substance but pleasant enough. The roti breads are very good and should be ordered to mop up those curry sauces. The only off note was undercooked potato in the side dish of Aloo.
What about drinks?
The wine list is pleasingly tight with no excess flab, thoughtfully chosen wines with the guiding hand of consulatant Peter McCombie MW. A newly launched English sparkling rosé wine from Coates and Seely is good to see on a list, although £80 may make you wince a little. Margins seem to be enthusiastic. We were happy to dig out a decent single vineyard Villa Maria Riesling 2005 from New Zealand, just off-dry, which coped admirably with the spicing and the sweeter elements in our menu, and a civilised £45 a bottle.
How much is this going to set me back?
This ain't curry house pricing. Many of the main dishes are north of £18, topping out at £28.50 for Kashmiri chilli and curry leaf lobster.
Overall thoughts
This is Indian dining with a sheen of luxury. The bar is a great place to kick off the night, and while the restaurant has plenty of dishes that you'll be familiar with from your local curry restaurant, the subtle tweaks and variations, and overall standard of the cooking shows the ambitions of the place. Not quite fine dining, but a place you might take your new squeeze to meet the parents.
Find out more about Bombay Brasserie
Hot Dinners were invited to eat at Bombay Brasserie. Prices are correct at the time of writing.
