Sunday 16 February 2014

GYMKHANA



I have been very disappointing lately . I haven't updated my blog for some time,  yet I have plenty of new places to tell you all about. I'm blaming the lethargy from all the eating and booze.
 So the most recent Restaurant visit was Gymkhana , the new Indian restaurant in Mayfair , sister to Michelin star Trishna in Marylebone. All the big gun reviewers have given Gymkhana glowing reviews.
 I absolutely adore Indian cuisine and dining in Mayfair makes me feel like a don , I'm in.
      The only available table when making my booking was for 6:00pm , since I was planning some disco dancing in Soho afterwards for a friends birthday , 6:00pm worked fine for me .
 Now I'm no Kelly Hoppen , I cant talk interior lingo to you but put it this way the dining room is sexy and not a dud table in sight ?!

 Me and my partner are curry mad , like many of us English folk I suppose. We had been salivating over the menu for a good week now, I as always had been a sad bastad and planned what I'm having already , takes the fun away I'm told. Its a bad habit what can I say.
 We ordered a bottle of the Indian Wine from the menu , which I have read will be becoming more popular in the coming years , it was beautiful and at £30 happy days !
  We ordered the Chicken Wings , Mussels and Dosa (fermented crepe) duck to start , all delicious. Wow the Mussels made me like Mussels ,seriously I have always thought they were pretty horrid little things,  mini fanny looking bullets that taste like the sea and not in a good way, but no I have been officially converted ! They came in a spiced coconut sauce which you could eat like a soup when your tasty little fanny looking lovelies had come to an end. The duck dosa was also lovely but gone in two bites.
 Mains -  SUCKLING PIG VINDALOO sounded too good to be true .
Sadly it was , well its unfair of me really as I haven't ever had a 'Vindaloo' in India but how would I , wasn't Vindaloo accustomed to our taste or was that Tikka Masala?  anyway maybe this is authentic and Ive become too accustomed to my favourite curry house's version , ... but yes nice just not as mind blowing as I had hoped .
 I had fortunately chose the Tandoori Guinea Fowl , which was very tasty indeed. Came with this lovely Crispy accompaniment . Yummo .
(I've stole this picture from Daily mail , the dish looked just like their picture so there was no need for me to look like an arse taking photos of my dinner in Mayfair).




I must say I wasn't as full as I like to have been , but then you could say I didn't order enough.  We did'nt bother with dessert as none of them appealed to my taste , kings of spice but not of desserts.
 We opted for after dinner cocktails instead which were actually disappointingly pretty crap. I had The spice monopoly which read like a cocktail dreams are made of  :
    'The Spice Monopoly
House spiced rum daiquiri and coconut milk & orange blossom ice cream.
The clean, fresh flavours of rum, Indian lemon & sugar have been
overhauled & accompanying them is a rich yet refreshing ice cream'

Hmmm . The icecream on the side was just for theatre it added nothing , the drink tasted like absinthe . yes absinthe , I hate absinthe , if you like it you are either a)Lying to sound cool b)Nuts.
I was trying to hide my disappointment , did'nt want to be a knob about it however once my partner pulled at face at his choice I couldn't keep up the pretence .

His choice:

Respect your Alder
Cognac with toasted cumin seed & mango syrup. Made as an Old
Fashioned stirred and brought to your table in an alder wood chip
smoked decanter.
 tasted like water with a drop of brandy, 

So  to conclude . I loved the room , the service was very good, the food was delicious , slightly lacking in areas but not enough to say it wasn't all expertly cooked, just a matter of me building up a too higher expectations in my head due to reviews and drooling over the menu on a daily basis. 
 And yes I do love my local curry house . A lot. Maybe I am just a commoner after all , maybe I have no idea what Vindaloo should actually taste like , but I do know when a cocktail lasts me longer than five minutes it was just not as tasty as I wanted it to be. 

Service 7/10
Food 7/10
Ambiance 8/10
Cocktails 2/10
Price : 
£140.00
Three starters 
Two mains 
Two sides 
Bottle of wine 
Two cocktails 
12.5 service .