We were recently invited to experience contemporary dining at Kanishka, a pan-Indian restaurant situated in London’s Mayfair on Maddox Street. Kanishka is a fine dinning restaurant that serves up a vibrant assortment of traditional Indian cuisine, with influences from diverse regions of India. As someone who loves a good Indian dish I knew I couldn’t pass up this opportunity to review the revered restaurant and any excuse to dress up and travel to London is always welcome.
According to Wikipedia, Kanishka the great was was an emperor of the Kushan dynasty, under whose reign ( c. 127–150 CE) the empire reached its zenith. I include this tidbit of information because I am always curious to learn where establishments get there names and also if there is meaning to the name. Kanishka is a mere 5-minutes walk from the Palladium and less than 10-minutes walk from Oxford Circus train station for those travelling via the London tube.
Disclosure: We were guests of Kanishka and during our visit, we enjoyed a complimentary 3-course meal for 2-people.
Experience Contemporary dining at Kanishka
Whenever I visit an establishment for the first time, the first thing I do is check out the ambiance of the place and how fluid the staff are especially towards other patrons more than to us. I take pride in providing an unbiased review so I pay special attention to other patrons and seeing if they are receiving the same service we are receiving. Let me tell you that the entire 2+hours we were at Kanishka, the staff went above and beyond for all the patrons who were present at the time we were, which is something both myself and my companion made note of. A special thanks to Gitanshu & Dheeraj for looking after us.
Kanishka is open every Tuesday to Saturday for lunch and dinner and recently added Sunday evenings (5pm – 9pm) which is when we visited. We had made reservations for 6pm on Sunday, the restaurant was very quite, we were treated by the lovely Gitanshu who together with Dheeraj looked after us the entire evening as we enjoyed a 3-course meal. Kanishka offers a set menu of 2-course or 3-course as well as a tasting menu which allows you to sample the entire menu which is comprised of dishes from Northeastern India with a modern twist. As mentioned, we opted for the 3-course meal which *spoilers* was absolutely delicious and very filling and in this post, I go into more detail on each course and the overall experience.
On Arrival
Kanishka is easy to locate situated at 17-19 Maddox Street, for theatre goers familiar with the Palladium, it’s a short walk to reach the restaurant. After we arrived, we were quickly shown to our table and as we booked to have a 3-course meal, we were served the Lychee Bellini (a welcome drink) which hit the right spot. We enquired as to whether they offer non-alcoholic options if one is not a drinker or doesn’t fancy alcohol, they confirmed they have alternatives including soft drinks that they offer.
One thing that stands out when you arrive at the restaurant is that they put a lot of effort into the look of the restaurant and the colour skim works. We learned that the main floor seats 46+ and if the bar area is included it can seat up to 62 patrons. There is another area downstairs which seats 30+ although it is not as big as the upstairs section. Kanishka is and can be hired out for private parties for those looking for a sizeable venue in London’s Mayfair.
Starter
Within a few minutes of being seated, our server came to take our orders for the starters, from the set-menu, I chose the ‘soft shell crab with corn bhel‘ this dish consists of crab, puffed rice & corn kernels, tomatoes, onion, cucumber and my companion chose the ‘chilli & garlic paneer’ which consisted of paneer, mix peppers, soy & spring onion. Both dishes were deliciously made, we could definitely tell that fresh ingredients were used and the flavours blended nicely.
- Soft shell crab: Crab – crispy and well seasoned, salad – fresh and great texture with mustard flavour a bit spicy
- Chill & garlic paneer – not spicy, very soft and melts in your mouth nicely caramelised, more saucy, slightly creamy cheese which blends well with the spice. Peppers were nicely crunchy
Mains
When it came to the mains, there were prepared pretty quickly, we had spent so much time analyzing the starters we forgot we had already ordered our mains. For the mains we choose the ‘Kerala fish curry‘ which consists of ‘catch of the day – for us this was sea bass’, coconut milk, spices and curry leaves. I paired this dish with Kanishka’s signature dish ‘black dal’ which is served as a side dish even those it comes with saffron rich already. As for my companion, she went for the Biryani which is served with tender cubes of lamb leg, aromatic rice & spices as well as raita – a classic Indian side dish with a twist.
When you order the 3-course meal, the mains comes with a wine pairing of your choosing, we opted for the house red and house white to go with the sea bass and the Biryani. For my main meal, I thought, the sea bass together with the coconut milk paired with potato mash was well seasoned and creamy though slightly salty for my taste buds but not overpowering. Overall I would give this dish 8.5 out of 10 because it was very tasty, the coconut shavings added extra zing to the dish, thanks to the mash, the rice was not really needed.
Kanishka’s signature dish ‘black dal’ – something about this dish brought back many memories of my mum’s cooking, we have a similar dish in Zambia that I used to eat loads as a kid. I thoroughly enjoyed this dish so much that we requested to take some of this back home with me. The Black dal – creamy, pairs well with garlic naan bread which we ordered as a side dish.
As for the Biryani which my companion ordered we found it to be very filling we thought it would make a great hearty dish for the winter months as it was quite heavy dish. The meat well done, breaks off nicely, well seasoned, tender meat, one of the best have had in recent months. I am not a big fan of lamb but I think the cucumber raita added even more flavour to this dish, we loved that the raita was of a creamy texture which I loved it. Overall I would give this dish 7.5 out of 10, even though I found it delicious, it wasn’t too different from other Biryanis I have had at other establishments.
Dessert
By the time it came to dessert, we were overly full but like I always tell my friends, I have a separate stomach just for dessert for we pushed on with our 3-course meal. From the Sunday menu, they only had a small selection of desserts and we opted from the MANGO & GINGER BRÛLÉE and the traditional Indian dessert the GULAB JAMUN. We thought that the brûlée was absolutely delicious, it melted in the mouth and the gulab jamun was very nice these two desserts paired with the Indian tea was a divine combination.
The mango & ginger BRÛLÉE contained almonds, vanilla ganache and topped with raspberry gel and the gulab jamun contained condensed milk dumpling with cardamom & steeped in saffron syrup. I found the gulab jamun to be incredibly sweet even for someone with a strong sweet tooth like me. Personally, I would pair this with a caffeine beverage that did not contain anything sweet to balance out the sweetness.
Overall Experience
It is not often you get invited to experience contemporary dining at Kanishka so we made sure to enjoy our visit and it did not disappoint. When it comes to the service that we received, we give it a 10/10 because the staff were very friendly and attentive and not only to us but other patrons as well. What I found amusing is that between every dish, the staff came and cleaned the table for all customers to remove debris from previous dishes. I have not seen this done in other restaurants I have been to before and not even the high end restaurant.
The atmosphere and ambiance of the restaurant was another 10/10 because it was clean, dime lighting and very inviting plus pleasing to the eye as well. We also had an opportunity to meet the chef who was absolutely lovely, him and his team put a lot of effort into every dish and we appreciated that as I am sure other patrons did too. Overall, we had an amazing time at Kanishka and we highly recommend a visit to the Mayfair location if you are ever in London.
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