Spice Route

Indian TV chef and cookery book writer Mridula Baljekar has sited her restaurant in a listed building right in the shadow of Windsor Castle, which must help, as the punters are largely tourists. That’s not to say that the menu here keeps to the tried and tested, far from it. What Mridula has done is to eschew strong spicing in favour of a more timid palate. The result is very much a hit and miss affair: mango and avocado salad with toasted sunflower seeds would work better were the mango not so overripe and the avocado barely noticeable. Then again, the likes of stuffed chicken drumsticks with saffron and cashew nuts are wonderfully aromatic, ditto the apricot stuffed vegetable balls in a creamy cinnamon and coriander sauce. Just don’t expect the cooking to move the earth. Still, the wines have been carefully chosen.