Amaya

Indian food at midday for Ladies Who Lunch? What an impossible proposition, but believe me it works here in the august purlieus of Motcomb Street. Amaya won the twin accolade of Tio Pepe ITV Restaurant Awards for Best Restaurant and Best New Restaurant of the Year in 2005, to be followed by a Star in the Michelin Red Restaurant Guide since 2006. A casual and joyous restaurant, people can relax and eat with whatever they like, including their fingers.

Nor are the kitchens tucked away in some faltering lean-to at the back. The very visible kitchen offers an exceptional feast of culinary theatre, so every opportunity to pick up a few hints as you eat as you observe three core Indian grilling methods at play; Tandoor in a really hot clay oven, Sigri, where the cooking is done over a coal flame, and Tawa where a hot thick iron plate supplies the working surface.

Through these three processes pass lobster in the shell, king scallops large prawns, oysters, grouper, venison, quail, leg of lamb, duck, all of which are transformed into the most scintillating Indian dishes.  Vegetarians will be thrilled with the choices that wait them from a cuisine that lends itself particularly well to their favoured form of ingredients.

For lunch guests can enjoy the vast amount of natural light that floods the restaurant through a glazed atrium covering the main dining area. Guests can eat in soft natural light observing the culinary spectacle of the show kitchen in action.

This harmonises with the delectable light lunches and healthy eating that make the focus of the lunch offerings. The subtly flavoured grills accompany lightly flavoured exotic salads. Many desserts are light, and some are sugar free.

Part of the Chutney Mary family, who also own Veeraswamy and Masala Zone, Amaya really is in a class of its own and many trillions of miles away from flock wallpaper and frail paper napkins. It is large, open and decidedly dramatic. A wide range of dishes spanning the familiar to the almost unknown keep the customers on their toes and coming back for more. The result is arguably some of the best and most contemporary Indian cuisine in London.

Curries are not evident, the menu is drawn more from sophisticated grills and as their staple. Chef Karunesh Khana does a tasting menu with 11 different items that arrive in measured order. All of this is a refreshing change to a cuisine which has been around in Britain long enough now to sustain new approaches, a movement in which Amaya seems to be well to the forefront.

Amaya is to be congratulated on its approach to the question of wine which rejects outright the notion that Indian food is worthy only of windy lager and CAMRA approved real ales, though these are available. Matthew Jukes, the award winning wine author has lent his authority to the creation of an eclectic and wide ranging collection, and knowledgeable on the spot advice can be given to link the right dishes with the correct bottles.

For those many enthusiastic people who have come to accept Indian cooking as an essential part of the British culinary scene Amaya is a real gift from whoever your god may happen to be.

For groups looking for something extra special, Amaya's private dining room, The Silver Room, offers a sophisticated venue for intimate parties. The room decorated in shimmering wall paper, with dramatic purple lighting conveys chicness, style and glamour and is perfect for groups of up to 14.

Check out their Website for up to the minute details of menus and offers.