Modern Indian Kitchen
The hour the fires are lit
Every plate carries a story. Ours begins with fire, patience and a spice box handed down three generations.
The Word
Across the north it is when the clay ovens are fired, the dal goes on for tomorrow, and somebody starts a story the whole table has heard before.
We cook the recipes those evenings carried, from Kashmir down the coast to Kerala. Nothing is fusion for the sake of it. Every dish on this menu can name the place it came from.
Signatures
Ten plates that never leave the menu, each from the place that taught it to us.
Delhi
Tandoor first, then the makhani
Kashmir
Six hours, bone in
Hyderabad
Sealed, never stirred
Punjab
Twenty four hours on the coals
Amritsar
Clay oven, morning dough
Malabar coast
Short grain rice, fried shallot
Tamil Nadu
Black pepper, star anise
Rajasthan
A whole feast on one plate
Kolkata
Wok fired, Kolkata Chinatown
Goa
Roasted coconut masala
The Menu
Six sections, changed with the season. The kitchen sends them in the order it thinks they read best.
Sharp, fast, meant for the first ten minutes.
Everything that touches the tandoor before it touches a plate.
Nothing here took less than four hours.
Sealed pots, opened at the table.
Cardamom, saffron, and one thing with chocolate.
Spice-led cocktails and a short, opinionated wine list.
Tables of eight or more eat the way we actually eat at home. One menu, everything in the middle, no one deciding alone.
Enquire about group diningFrom the Pass
Started at four in the afternoon for service the next night. It has been on the menu since the first week and it will not be coming off.
Sealed with dough, opened in front of you. If the steam escapes early, the dish is wrong and we start again.
Dough proved at six in the morning, slapped onto the wall of the tandoor to order. Nothing about it can be prepared ahead.
By the Numbers
The Room
Forty covers, low light, and a ceiling of paper blossom that takes two people a full day to hang each spring.
The kitchen is open. If you sit at the counter you will watch your food being finished, which is the whole point of sitting at the counter.
Book a table in the roomGuests
The dal alone is worth the trip. I have thought about it every week since.
Sat at the counter and barely spoke for an hour. Watching that kitchen work is the show.
Every dish arrived with a sentence about where it came from. None of it felt rehearsed.
Booked for four, stayed for three hours. The staff never once made us feel rushed.
Finally somewhere that treats Indian food as a kitchen, not a category.
The biryani gets opened at the table. Small piece of theatre, enormous payoff.
Room is beautiful without being precious. You can actually hear the person opposite you.
Took my parents. My mother asked for the recipe, which has never happened anywhere.
The wine list is short and every single thing on it makes sense with the food.
Went in expecting a nice dinner. Left having learned something.
Reservations
Tables open sixty days ahead. A few counter seats at each venue are always kept back for walk-ins.
Nine or more? We set one menu for the whole table. Enquire about group dining or ask about private hire.
Visit
48 Kingsway, London WC2B 6EY
Tue to Sat, 5.30pm till late
11 Bermondsey Street, London SE1 3XF
Wed to Sun, 12pm till 10pm