Benares

12a, Berkeley Square, London

Setting the bar for high-end Indian, Atul Kochhar’s cuisine inspires restaurants around the world

Walking through the shrouded Mayfair entrance to high-end Indian Benares, you are completely forgiven for thinking that you might be crossing the threshold to a swanky W1 nightclub. With low lighting, impossibly well-turned-out staff and moody styling, it may be 12 years old, but regular facelifts have left it looking as fresh as the Bentley and Rolls-Royce showrooms that bookend it next-door.

Dinners are best begun with a cocktail downstairs. While the bartenders are well versed in the classics, do set the tone with a punchy passion fruit chutney martini. Sweet and sour, with just enough heat to remind you where you are but not ruin the palate for the delicate spices to come, it has quite rightly won awards for its blend of flavours.

Chef-owner Atul Kochhar was the first chef to be awarded a Michelin star for Indian food when he worked at nearby Tamarind. He duly repeated the feat at Benares in 2007 four years after opening and has kept it ever since. His food set the tone for the ‘Michel-Indian’ cuisine we’ve become familiar with. Kochhar wrote the playbook for the likes of Trishna, Quilon and more recently Gymkhana to follow. He took us away from over-spicing and metallic curry house heat and introduced us to stylised portions and vibrant colour.

His tasting menu showcases his talents to the hilt. After a round of crisp-as-they-come poppadoms, chutney and raita, it’s a gentle start with a salad of lightly curried potatoes, sweet potatoes and yoghurt foam, before gradually cranking things up with a trio of chicken: tikka, chutney-grilled and crispy wing. Controversially, he goes from poultry to fish, with baked salmon, spiced vermicelli and crab croquette with coconut and curry leaf sauce that emerges as dish of the day. The salmon makes an ideal foil for the sweet and smokily spiced sauce that would’ve overpowered the chicken dish had it have come before. Arguably Kochhar’s signature plate, rump of lamb with smoked shoulder and masala turnips, arrives next. A dish that showcases his fusion of Indian flavours with typically British ingredients perfectly.

At £85 a tasting menu, it’s not cheap, but this is experiential dining at its best. You’ll leave feeling that any incarnation of curry you’ve had is an imitation of the real thing. MS. 020 7629 8886, benaresrestaurant.com