Quilon Restaurant & Bar, The

Located just two minute's walk from Buckingham Palace and St. James's Park in Buckingham Gate, The Quilon restaurant is a real hidden gem. Its cuisine is based on India's Kerala style cooking, from the South West Coast of India, so you can expect to see plenty of interesting fish and seafood dishes.

Start your evening with a drink at the chic bar area before moving to your table in the dining area. The most interesting feature of the restaurant is undoubtedly the mural covered wall depicting sunny Indian costal scenes, that make you want to get down to the travel agents and book a trip to India there and then.

From the starter menu choose from dishes such as char-grilled shrimps with lime and chilli, or spicy batter fried shrimps. To follow there are a host of great fish curries and stews as well as interesting meat and vegetarian dishes like masala aubergine, whole baby aubergine slit and filled with a ground mixture of coconut, red chillies, poppy seeds, coriander seeds and cooked semi dry.

Some of the other main dishes that are available, the majority of which are light and delicate, are: guinea fowl stew, supreme of guinea fowl braised with onion, green chilli, cardamom and coconut milk; chargrilled whole sea bass cooked with chopped button onion, tomato, lime juice and chilli, served wrapped in a banana leaf and black cod vattichathu, subtly spiced, baked chunks of cod.