Having had my eyes opened to contemporary Indian cuisine courtesy of my wife demanding to be taken to Benares for her birthday, an old friend suggested I give Babur a try. I don't mind travelling a little way for an exceptional meal, and with the East London line extension I was able to get to Honor Oak Park from north of the river easily enough (and it's no Darlington, which I have done for a meal in the past). We went quite early, as I'd discovered they have a 50% discount outside of their rush hours (the manager called it their decongestion deal) and as such it was quite quiet, but picked up a buzz towards the end of our visit (we're thinking we might go later next time and sample the atmosphere a bit more).
It has the look and feel of a more uptown establishment, with a daring cocktail menu to match (I loved the Currytini!) but with a more approachable service manner – which was good, as they'd just launched a menu celebrating the seafood dishes of the East Coast of India, to be followed by one celebrating the West coast the following month and I have to admit I wasn't overly familiar with all of the dishes. I really enjoyed chatting with the staff about dishes and fish that were new to me, and was more than happy to take a couple of recommendations which turned out to be real eye and tastebud openers!
I think the best dish for me was the mussels in a coconut curry broth, which I didn't order so much as lean over and help myself to (sorry dear).
Well worth a visit, and ridiculously good value for money it must be said. We plan on returning shortly to sample the West coast menu, and perhaps a couple more currytinis.