Gymkhana, Mayfair

Michelin-star restaurant Gymkhana is notoriously known for being one of the top Indian restaurants in the U.K, one I’ve wanted to add to the blog for a long time – but was just waiting for the right occasion.

The restaurant boasts the rich interior of a colonial Indian club, with leather seats and dimmed lighting for an old authentic Indian-feel. The restaurant appears small from the entrance with only a few tables and a bar, but walking down the narrow staircase is a bit like that wardrobe in Narnia, as it opens up into a maze of tables and booths on the lower ground floor – which also has two private dining vaults, of which we hired one for an evening meal.

Now I rarely go to eat at Michelin star restaurants, purely because my bank account currently doesn’t cater for that lifestyle! However, when visiting these restaurants I do try and remind myself that not 100% of the price will correlate to the taste of food, as of course you’re also partly paying for the location, service and experience as a whole. Many Mayfair restaurants you’ll easily find yourself spending close to the £100 mark per/person, for example a trip to Nobu had me £110 out of pocket, and still not completely full up, and in need of a trip to McDonalds on the way home (embarassing, I know!).

As we were a large group of 10, we opted for the Taste of Gymkhana menu (pictured below) for £40 per person, which comes as 4 courses plus Popadums.

To summarise for those who don’t have time to read the whole review, I thought the menu was fantastic, well worth the money and the service was infallible. For those that do have 5 minutes to read my tuppence on the restaurant – enjoy!

First up – was the Popadums. These came in generous portions to share between 3/4 people, and were pretty much gone before I even had a chance to take a picture, but came in a variety of three types (Cassava, Lentil & Sabudana), accompanied with various Chutneys of which the Mango was delicious – had to continue asking for more portions throughout my meal.

Secondly – Samosa Papdi Chat. Now, I find that the best Papdi Chats come from small Mithai (Indian sweet) shops, rather than from restaurants – especially the ones that you find in Tooting. Most restaurants that I’ve tried Papdi Chat from, I’ve either been disappointed or just felt that it wasn’t a good value for money. Best Papdi Chat to this day that I’ve tried has to be a few blocks away from Gymkhana, at Tamarind.

The Chat came in a small portion, but boasted a rich burst of flavours which had us excited for the rest of the meal.

Next was a choice between the Kid Goat Methi Keema and the Chola. Both were amazing and I genuinely wouldn’t know which one to pick if I were to return.

The Keema came in a plate to share between 3/4 people, with some Pau buns, whereas the Chola came as a plate per person with a small naan cut, and some fried onions.

For the mains there was a choice between the Chicken Butter Masala, Hariyali Bream and Saag Paneer. I chose the Chicken Butter Masala and was overly surprised – as most the Butter Masalas I’ve tried have been very mild (boring!), whereas this had a hint of spice which I was pleased about. The portions were small, but fair considering I was already half-full from the first few courses. These came accompanied with Basmati Rice and some Aloo Mattar.

For dessert I opted for the ‘Kesar Pista Angoori Rasmalai’ – a very fancy name for some Rasmalai, as the other option of Gulab Jamun came with Kulfi that contained Alcohol. The Rasmalai was impressive, perhaps not the most impressive part of the meal, but it was sure delicious!

Having heard so much about the Lamb Chops at Gymkhana, it was only right that we gave them a go. The good words we had heard about them had us overly excited, and we ended up ordering 3 portions which (considering they costed £34 per portion of 3) turned out very expensive.

The lamb chops were good – not amazing. The rest of the meal I thought was amazing, definitely top 3 Indian’s i’ve tried, but sadly the lamb chops let me down, and I would put Dishoom’s lamb chops infront of these. Perhaps it was the price, but for roughly £11 each I didn’t think there was any justifying.

The lamb chops were definitely of a generous portion size, and damn were they spicy – The waiter had to bring around some yoghurt for a few of us for their burning tongues! Decent lamb chops, just not worth the money.

For drinks, I tried the Mango lassi and the Virgin Mojito. The Mango lassi was very yoghurty and filling, but I would not recommend the Virgin Mojito – genuinely only got about 5 sips from it!

Address: 42 Albemarle St, Mayfair, London W1S 4JH
Halal status: Chicken, Lamb and Goat is Halal.
Alcohol status: served on the Premises.