Tamarind

Set in a sumptuously chic gold-accented dining room in Mayfair - London's most prestigious district - Tamarind is a world-renowned Indian restaurant. It was the first Indian restaurant in Europe to receive Michelin recognition. It has held a Michelin star since 2000.

Internationally-acclaimed executive chef Alfred Prasad has devised a series of new dishes based on the fresh young, flavour-packed produce of the season. Says he, "Indian food and culture is a vast yet immediate source of inspiration to my cooking. Its diversity - most still unexplored, contributes to innovative ideas that create a cuisine and an ultimate dining experience". Not surprising therefore that Tamarind is renowned for its ongoing exploration of the sub-continent.

The menu at Tamarind is lengthy enough to ensure that any serious seeker after proper Indian cuisine could spend an awful lot of time reaping the benefits of this enquiring attitude.

Starters include the Tamarind salad, with salad leaves, melon, plum and kumquats in a honey and pine nut dressing; grilled scallops, flavoured with green, pink and black peppercorns drizzled with oven roasted peppers and crushed fenugreek in olive oil or Lasooni Pasliyan Grilled lamb cutlets marinated in olive oil with garlic, chilli, lime, and black cumin seeds, topped with spiced aubergine

Main course Highlights include lamb dishes like the curry Gosht Pasanda - lamb shanks slow cooked with browned onion, ground cashew nut, poppy seeds and chilli, finished with fresh coriander or Haryali Macchi Grilled chunks of salmon in a marinade of ginger, mint, coriander lime-leaf and ground spices or dal makhni, slow cooked black lentils, a speciality from the North West frontier.

Desserts have always been a speciality of Indian cooking, perhaps because of the startling contrast between the spices and the intense sweetness, but Tamarind excels. The homemade rice pudding topped with cashew nuts, raisins and home made orange marmalade is exceptional, but for sheer perfection try the fruit kabab, tandoor grilled pineapple, pear and strawberry.

Unusually for an Indian restaurant they have a Sommelier, a very well versed one at that, with an excellent cellar stock from which to work. The tendency to replace jars of indifferent fizzy lager with decent wine when eating-out-India is one greatly to be encouraged. Staffing is an exemplar of the old adage that service in Indian restaurants is almost invariably polite, friendly and efficient.

The influx of new cuisines, never mind adaptations on old ones, that has overtaken the world and Britain in particular during the last few decades is not necessarily a bad thing provided that it is done with the degree of professionalism and curiosity that is displayed at every turn by Tamarind.

It perhaps goes without saying most of this excellence takes good management and vision, not to mention the money. But then Tamarind is just very special and if the process tends to reflect that, you can rest assured you will be getting value for money. No children under 10 years.

For far more information, including their menus and online booking facilities, do visit the Website.