Benares

Benares is the Michelin starred restaurant of  Indian Chef Atul Kochhar. It was to celebrate my birthday that we went along to taste the delicious food of this remarkable chef - the first ever Indian chef to receive the accolade of a Michelin star. We were welcomed and taken upstairs to the restaurant and bar, being shown straight to our table. A glass of fizz and a peruse of the menu, and we soon decided to go with the tasting menu with matching wines. and so the fun began. Seven courses and five different wines - all superb, of course, and impeccably served. 

First here are two views of the restaurant:

Our nibbles with a glass of champagne.

Spinach and Apricot Tikka

Crispy Soft Shell Crab, Apple Relish,

Scottish White Crab Meat and Coronation Slaw

Baked Organic Salmon, Spiced Vermicelli,

Hand-picked Scottish Crab Croquette,

Coconut and Curry Leaf Sauce

 

Chutney Grilled Fillet,

Tandoori Spring Onion and Saffron Supreme,

Crispy Wing from Free Range Chicken

Nimbu Pani Sorbet

Roasted Rump of English Lamb,

Baby Spinach and Chickpea Masala,

Minced Shoulder Samosa

Mint tea with Petit Fours

 

Rose and Raspberry Bhapa Doi, Pistachio Burfi

The five matching wines were:

2012 Viognier, Clay Station, Lodi, California, USA

2012 Sequillo Eben Sadie, Malmesbury, South Africa

2009 Gewürztraminer Atul’s Signature, Jean Claude Gueth, Alsace, France

2012 Pinot Noir Muddy Water, Waipara, New Zealand

2009 Chenin Blanc Les 4 Villages, Domaine FL Coteaux du Layon, Loire, France

Benares, Mayfair, London