Benares

Address:	12 Berkeley Square House W1J 6BS
Tel	020 7629 8886
Email:	reservations@benaresrestaurant.com
Website:	Visit Benares website
Price: £61.00	Wine: £25.00	Champagne: £49.00
Opening Hours:	Mon-Fri 12N-2.30pm Mon-Sat 5.30-11pm (Sun -10.30pm)

Square Meal review of Benares:

Michelin-starred chef-proprietor Atul Kochhar may be an increasingly familiar TV presence but judging by the standard of his upscale Indian cooking, he hasn’t taken his eye off the ball. Start with jal tarang, a rousingly distinctive salad combo of scallops, grilled prawns & gem lettuce with a grape & ginger dressing: vibrant & flavoursome stuff. Mains such as rogan josh may sound ordinary, but Kochhar’s lightness of touch & fresh spicing elevate the dish to new heights, while the Mangalorean machi – tandoor-roasted monkfish with mushroom kedgeree in a coriander & ginger sauce – is exceptional. Desserts, meanwhile, offer just the right balance of east-west flavours. Service, however, is not always so slick, while two-hour table turns, enforced even when the restaurant isn’t full, feel at odds with the steep prices. Bargain hunters should investigate the various set menus.

Wine List: This pricey list is laid out stylistically starting with an impressive array of Champagne. A selection of aromatic whites includes a page of interesting old German Riesling. The reds follow a more traditional route dominated by French classics, but with a fine range of New World wines – often the better match for spicy food. Best Buy White 2004 Paul Cluver Estate Gewurztraminer, Elgin, South Africa, £30. Best Buy Red 2005 The Cadenzia Grenache/Shiraz/Mourvedre, d’Arenberg, McLaren Vale, Australia, £45.

Chef: Atul Kochhar

Atul Kochhar’s interest in food began early, helping in his father’s contract and event catering business in India. But although his father wanted his son to become a doctor or engineer, Kochhar followed his heart and took on a chef apprenticeship with the Oberoi group of hotels in India. He rose through the ranks to become a senior sous chef of the fine-dining restaurant of the Oberoi New Delhi, before being headhunted to come to the UK as head chef of Tamarind, which opened in November 1994. Kochhar was at the helm when Tamarind won its Michelin star in 2001. Eighteen months ago, Kochhar decided to go it alone, opening Benares as chef-proprietor.

Benares Location: