Tamarind

20 Queen St, London

The first Indian restaurant in the world to win a Michelin star is as good as ever in its 19th year.

Just over a decade or so ago, if your food wasn’t French – or at least ‘modern European’ – a Michelin star was often out of reach. And so when Tamarind, under the stewardship of chef Atul Kochhar, became, in 2001, the first Indian restaurant in the world to gain a coveted star, it was no small feat. That 13 years later it continues to hold onto it (discounting a one year blip from 2009-2010), in an increasingly competitive fine dining market, speaks volumes.

It is Mayfair, it is expensive. It can afford to be. Tamarind has become a brand reaching further than just these walls. In addition to the London location, current head chef Alfred Prasad – who has conducted the kitchens for the past decade – opened Tamarind of London in California in 2012. The group also owns Soho’s street-food-focused Imli, and One Kensington, a brand new all-day-dining outfit, follows this spring. But brand or not, if you’re got the dosh, the cooking here is worth it. On a Sunday evening the room – which is gilded in sophisticated swathes of bronzes and silver, and dark woods – is full with couples, families, tourists and groups of chattering businessmen. Wiser diners, the regulars, come as a minimum of a party of four – because they know that there’s a whole lot on the menu you need to try.

Such as those kababs. Through a window connecting dining room to kitchen you glimpse a chef working the tandoor. He knows, almost by instinct, the precise moment when the lamb chops with papaya and fennel, or the jumbo prawns with ginger and nigella seeds, are ready for removal – when their exteriors are charred, but inside they are tantalisingly juicy. Each kabab’s gentle but persistent heat is tempered by a drizzle of padi chaat – chickpeas, wheat crisps and soothing yoghurt with a streak of sweet chutney. Then come the mains; and it is at this point that you really begin to grasp Prasad’s skill level. Complex layers of spice are in perfect harmony – there’s creamy murgh makhni (aka the best chicken tikka ever); Hyderbadi lamb shank, cooked to such tenderness that a single breath could make it drop from the bone; earthy dal makhni. Not a single dish fails to delight. The only problem? We hardly have room for dessert – and, as any regular knows, the tandoori pineapple is a must. AM.