Lotus – Review

0207 839 8797/lotus.london

The Lotus flower is the national flower of India and signifies purity, spiritual awakening and grace. The new 65 seat Restaurant of the same name sits in a part of the West End more  associated with the theatre, art and gambling rather than any of those more estimable virtues.I’m hoping for a more decadent experience than the name implies as the restaurant’s team of chefs have worked in some the finest luxury hotels in India, and Bhaskar Banerjee, Chef and Manager of Lotus has a culinary career spanning award winning fine dining Indian restaurant brands such as Bukhara, Dumpukth and Dakshin. Lotus’ USP is a bespoke wine list with matching wines for each dish chosen by sommelier Debbie Henriques. Debbie has a heavyweight CV including Hotel du Vin, Claridges Hotel and  Rhodes restaurant at Pimlico Square. Matching wines successfully to Indian food is really hard so she and the team have a lot to live up to.Debbie starts us off with a glass of Colet Vatua! (meaning ‘What a surprise!’) Extra Brut NV. It’s a sparkling  Penedès which is actually a posh Prosecco and an unusual mix of 50% Muscat, 40% Parellada and 10% Gewürztraminer which manages to be simultaneously aromatic and floral but dry. Most often wines paired with spicy food err on the sweet and floral side so this was something of a revelation as it coped beautifully with our yellow lentil broth which was full of coconut and turmeric flavours.

Poppadums unusually came in three ways-rice, millet and potato (£2.75) with three accompanying delicious chutneys, apricot and mango ,roast chilli and green tomato and mint.

Cod cheeks, bream and tuna were coated with semolina, deep-fried and served with a curry and coriander dip (£8.75). This was a precise piece of cooking that allowed the fish flavours to shine through that was well matched by a glass of citrussy Grüner Vetliner Holzer Austria 2014 (£8.75).

Masala Prawn, Duck eggs and Green lentil wrap (£8.75) was another rich and elegant dish. Lotus clearly is not about big shouty flavours but something more refined and subtle. Curried egg and prawn is a classic combination but not something I had eaten in a wrap before and the lentil version was crisp and satisfying. The accompanying Portal Del Montsant Santbru Spain 2010 (£10.75) was full of red and black fruit balanced by a healthy acidity.

Lotus’ signature dish is the rather bling 23 Karat Gold Lamb Shanks Khorma with roast potato mash, papaya pickle, spices, green cardamom and cashew (£21.75). It was beautifully tender and again spiced with lots of layers of flavour. The red wine Graciano, Vina Zorzal, Navarra 2013 (£8.75) was similarly complex and spicy.

Lobster tail and Queenies, ginger, curry leaf and coconut curry was another elegant dish that displayed an almost French classical sense of restraint. The lobster had great texture and flavour and the saucing was sublime. Domaine Saint Hilaire 2013 (£10.75), a chardonnay from the Languedoc had a chalky minerality  that was a delicious counterpoint.

Saffron and green peas rice (£4.75) was a delicious bowl of spice and texture.

Black lentils had simmered overnight with Garlic, Tomato, clarified butter and cream. This was the best daal I have ever eaten with the earthy, nutty quality of the lentils to the fore and the dish of Paneer and spinach was rich and vegetal.

A bread basket (£3.75) was made up of freshly cooked naan and roti.

Almond Kheer (£6.75), Parsnip cigarillo and date Jaggery featured the almond rice pudding given some sweetness by the cane sugar Jaggery and the  glass of Chateau Delmond (£8.75), a classic honeyed Sauternes.

 Lotus offers refined Indian fine dining on a par with London’s top Indian restaurants such as Gymkhana or Benares. My only criticism is that in today’s world it is important to have a focussed marketing offer, creating a narrative around the food that a UK fine dining audience can buy into. The the wine matching is definitely a major plus and once the restaurant finds a way of projecting outwards I’m sure it will be a great success because it deserves to.