Lasan

While the second city may be famous for its ubiquitous balti, the cooking at Lasan has taken Indian food into a new age. This is stunning stuff, innovative, well thought-out & beautifully light, as seen in dishes such as yoghurt & mint marinated fillet of lemon sole, tandoori roasted & served with tomato cucumber salad & mint coriander dressing, or seared breast of duck served with onion & tomato curry flavoured with roasted coconut, poppy & melon seeds. Even the desserts are excellent – & it’s not often that the pudding list in an Indian restaurant wins plaudits too. The surroundings are as upmarket as the food, though the ultra-modern interior has a lot of hard surfaces which bounce the noise around & can give you a bit of an ear-bashing when it’s busy. But it looks great & deserves its 2007 British Curry Award.