If you stroll down Regent Street, it’s impossible not to notice the elegantly tempting side-streets that appear to beckon the well-heeled diner into their embrace. Maddox Street, long a foodie hotspot – this is where Claude Bosi had Hibiscus – has always had a fine reputation for its restaurants, and Atul Kocchar’s London outpost, Kanishka, has found a wholly appropriate berth here.
Having had a wonderful time at Kocchar’s Beaconsfield restaurant Riwaz last year, I visited with high expectations and a keen appetite, and I am delighted to report that neither was disappointed.
As soon as my chum Boothby and I crossed the threshold, we were faced with the evening’s true virtuoso in the form of manager Clive, a man of such incandescent charisma he could convince a monk to order a second bottle and such flawless professionalism he seems to have mastered hospitality in a past life. As soon as I announced my name, Clive greeted us as if we were returning heroes of a bygone age, orchestrating our evening with the finesse of a diplomat and the giddy speed of a toreador.
We were presented immediately with a glass of house champagne – ‘Champagne Atul Kocchar’, no less – and then invited to gaze down at the elegantly structured and impeccably presented tasting menu, a procession of dishes that could make a hard-bitten cynic write sonnets of praise.
The menu was a bravura performance. Over the course of several different courses that began with scallops and perfectly cooked turbot – or, as the menu describes them, ‘jalpari’ and ‘meen nilgiri’ – there was a careful adherence to subtle spice and deep-cut flavour that made everything a pleasure to eat.
The chicken tikka ‘pie’, a Kocchar speciality since his Benares days, was a particular triumph, and after that, the lamb Wellington took centre stage – succulent lamb canon (from Romney Marsh no less) cloaked in golden pastry, with sauces so sublime they deserve their own aria. Boothby and I were smitten, forks poised mid-air in reverence. By the time that the meal concluded with a lighter-than-air pistachio cake, we were unable to do much more than sigh in admiration.
Libations were no slouch, either. A bottle of Humberto Canale Intimo 2021 Sauvignon Semillon, crisp as a winter’s dawn, was a perfect accompaniment to the fish courses and the chicken, with the lamb accompanied by a Malbec, dark and soulful as a poet’s lament. It would have been wrong to depart without the obligatory espresso martinis, those wicked potions that stir the spirit to reckless revelry, leaving Boothby murmuring about staging a midnight pantomime.
Kanishka’s price – £120 for the tasting menu – is no trifling sum, but for a night of such theatrical brilliance, it’s a bargain. As we sipped our espresso martinis, still swooning over that Wellington, Clive’s parting handshake promised further delights on the next visit. Boothby and I concur: we shall return, if only to bask again in Kocchar’s impeccable sorcery, and the certain knowledge that this is a restaurant that does what it does very, very well indeed.
Kanishka by Atul Kochar, 17-19 Maddox Street, London W1S 2QH. The tasting menu at Kanishka is £120 per person, or £80 per person on ‘Flavourful Fridays’. For more information, and for bookings, please visit www.kanishkarestaurant.co.uk.
