Words: Margaret Clancy
Check out these exclusive pictures of the hotly anticipated Darbaar restaurant, coming to the City on 2 November. We also have the first images of South Kensington's latest addition, The Hour Glass.
The great Indian restaurants of London are not only fabulous places to eat: they’re also brilliant training grounds for the next generation of chefs. This new addition to the City’s dining scene comes from Abdul Yaseen, who has spent the last 15 years in the kitchens of The Cinnamon Club and its associated restaurants, Cinnamon Soho and Cinnamon Kitchen. You can expect to see the influence with Yaseen’s debut here, namely a melding of Eastern and Western foods, flavours and techniques.
It’s a beautifully presented space – all midnight blue, copper and gold, a sort of modern-day interpretation of an ancient Indian palace – but Yaseen and his team are hardly taking a back seat: signature dishes to look out for are tender Nawabi slow-roasted leg of lamb, a smile-inducing Keralan shrimp cocktail and kid goat biryani, as well as ‘The Royal Pot’ – a seasonally changing chef’s special that Yaseen is reportedly prepared to stake his reputation on.
However if you can't wait until November for tasty treats then you can head down to The Hour Glass now.
Luke Mackay and David Turcan (the duo behind artisan emporium Brompton Food Market) are at the helm of this new South Kensington pub. Chef Tim Parsons – who has cooked under Bruno Loubet and at The Ebury in Belgravia – works to a philosophy of ‘the best tasting ingredients, left alone’ and his menu is seasonally led with ingredients supplied by artisan producers from (you guessed it), Brompton Food Market.
Highlights include sea bream with cauliflower, burnt leeks and brown shrimp, and flat-iron steak with chips and bone-marrow gravy, served in the 28-cover dining room on the first floor. When it comes to drinks, London brewers make up at least half of the draft options, joined by some cloudy scrumpy, IPAs and three guest ales. The aim is to showcase London’s beer heritage, with several modern, locally sourced brews adding to the hoppy mix.
Patrick Thomas Design impressed with its stripped-back interiors for Brompton Food Market and has restored the pub to its former glory, with the word ‘gastropub’ banned from any design meetings. Instead, original features have been uncovered, resulting in a cosy, traditional boozer. Panelled walls use wood from local churches, while a towering hourglass sculpture references the pub’s name. With the abundance of swish international establishments in South Ken, a proper pub serving high-quality British food is just what’s needed.
This article was published 29 September 2015