Indian Accent – Morels or Morals ?

Indian Accent Interior

Review of Indian Accent – 31 August 2018.

High end Indian street food in the form of expensive fine dining seems to be all the rage in Knightsbridge these days. Of course there have been well established quality Indian restaurants in the area for decades – Veeraswamy, Chutney Mary, Atul Kochars excellent Benares – and a few years ago Gymkhana opened to exalted reviews. In the meantime Dishooms appears to be going from strength to strength, and Gunpowder has just opened its second location –  all a far cry from a drunken Midnight Vindaloo in Brick Lane.

The British appetite for Indian food appears to be insatiable, and this is surely one of the reasons why relative newcomers Tandoor Chophouse,Bombay Bustle and the subject of this review – Indian Accent, are all busy, receiving equal critical acclaim and attention. So with this in mind a visit with my 3 best restaurant buddies was set up to try out one of the new pretenders to the Indian Crown.

This is the third Indian Accent in the world with the Original in New Delhi since 2009, which is listed in the Worlds best 50 restaurants. The second set up in New York in 2015. In London it is down the road from Gymkhana and therefore has one of its major contemporaries or competitors as a near neighbour.

On entering, the restaurant is shiny and dimly light with touches of green velvet – very Mayfair – the type where you need the torch on your phone to read the menu. Not a criticism but an observation. There are nicely designed booths for 4 and we are seated at one of these. Very comfortable , lots of space and a good feeling of privacy. A cursory look at the drinks menu immediately reminds you of your location with the wine list displaying some extortionate prices ( especially on the French wine). My friends as always want to start with bubbles but to our dismay a glass of Moet is priced at £18 and even a sparkling Vouvray £14 ! We consider ordering 3 glasses of the Vouvray, however as the Sommelier points out it would be better value to purchase a bottle at £60. I am not following the bubbles gang and plump for a bottle of Jaipur IPA but this also comes in at a rather staggering £7.

As to the Food Menu then we are advised of the options, namely 3 courses for £55, 4 courses for £65 or the tasting menu at £85. It is a confusing read as many of the words attached to recognisable ingredients are mysterious and clearly of Indian ethnic styles,sauces and ingredients. No Bhajis, Tandori’s, Jalfrazzis, or Pilaus in sight ! We are asked the usual “any questions about the menu” to which we did clarify a few unknown dishes and also requested a swap on one of the main dishes from the a la Carte to the tasting menu which they kindly said they could accommodate. However we were then abandoned and nobody took the actual order without being asked twice to do so –  an inauspicious start and not the service levels you would expect in a high class location such as this. Once we were in position to order, and wanting to sample the best of the restaurants dishes, we plumped for the tasting menu, which to all intents and purposes appeared to be of better value too.

Baby Roquefort Nan

First up is our Amuse Bouche ( so already 9 courses extended to 10) which is a dainty mini circle of Nan Bread accompanied by a Chorba – coconut and pumpkin soup. The soup is a little fiery as it goes down and the Nan is delicately stuffed with a blue cheese – really, is it Roquefort ? Yes, and it’s fabulous. French /Indian ?! Already forgetting the slow uptake on the initial ordering. Very fickle, me! This is closely followed by the official first course of the tasting menu – 5 waters – or Puchkas to the uninitiated.

5 Puchka Waters

It is Basically 5 small shot type glasses containing various liquids that you need to pour into a small crispy sphere of pastry and then eat in one before it leaks all over the table or down your shirt. A spicy Coriander/Beef concoction, followed by Tamarind,Smokey Pineapple,Pomegranate and Yoghurt. Fun to eat, and all tasty. First time experiencing these.

Potato Spere Chat

Then a crispy potato sphere chat with some white pea mash ( thought they were chickpeas) and a small slice of watermelon to freshen it up. Good textures and explained to us as real Indian Street Food. What then follows is an outstanding Kashmiri Morel coated in Walnut powder with a Parmesan Papad ( like a baby poppadum). The morel stood proudly, was huge, and was stuffed with tiny small diced morels and spices. It was incredible, earthy, nutty, and, we determined from the Waiter, was actually from Northern India, and they have them flown in on a daily basis. Incomparable to any other morel eaten before.

The best Morel ever !

It just so happened at this stage of the evening one of my dining partners LadyD was discussing being a woman of low morals, whereas the  Morels presented in front of us were certainly of quite a distinguished class. Indeed I would have been happy to sacrifice all of my so called Morals for another Indian Accent Morel all day long !

This was followed by a baked Cod Amritsari – a sort of tandoori Cod, followed by another outstanding dish – Soy Keema, Quail Egg, and Lime Leaf Butter Pao. It was served in a little clay pot with a spear of bread sticking out of the lid so that you could mop up the insides. What the pot contained looked and tasted like spicy mincemeat with a little blob of a quails egg floating happily in the middle.

Are you sure no meat ?!

But there was no meat – had to double check this with the waiter – but was assured it was all Soya, Fenugreek and Mustard Seeds, Amazing. Whilst C and I tucked into this LadyD and JJ had opted for the sweet pickle pork rib which literally fell off the bone by just looking at it. Wow, the power of a hungry stare ! Happy faces all round.

Then a quick pallet cleanser – Ankara Chuski- or a pomegranate ice lolly to you and I – before moving on to the main courses. I had opted for the Chicken Malai Tikka which was 3 pieces of succulent meltingly soft lightly spiced Chicken with a green chilli cream, sugar snap peas and truffle ! Gorgeous and again a little feeling of a clash of cultures – Indian meets French cuisine and the marriage was one made in heaven. Other dishes chosen were a sea bream (beautifully presented ) and the scallops from the a la Carte.

All of the main courses were accompanied by a black dairy Dahl, Wasabi Yoghurt and a choice of Kulcha – basically like stuffed Nans. The really original examples  involved a bacon one and a black pudding one ! Orgasmic stuff ! Again a little bit of East meeting West resulting in a wonderful clash of tastes !

Give me more

On to dessert and first up was what tasted like a little almond cloud with crunchy sugar pieces and a hint of saffron. On the menu it read “ Makhan Malai, Saffron Milk, Rose Petal Jaggery Brittle and Almonds” so I think my more basic description was about right !

Almond Saffron Cloud !

To finish off a fusion of classic English and Indian – a Doda Barfi (Condensed Milk) Treacle Tart And Vanilla Bean Ice Cream. 2 sticks of chocolate guarding the insides. Sweet and sticky and very moorish. Thankfully fairly modest in size.

Treacle Tart !

We were washing all of the above down with a White Rioja – a 2007 Viura, R.Lopez de Heredia, Vina Gravonia. This was £45 on the wine list and much better value than the French listed wines and I am guessing less popular or known to the restaurant clientele. This is a wine that is stored in oak for up to 4 years and the result is almost Amber in colour, almost sherry like, with a good rounded body and a slightly buttery, nutty, honey taste and went beautifully with the food. Bearing in mind the retail cost of this bottle is around £20 then the mark up was not as high as many other listed wines. Must have been good as we managed to get through 3 of them! Slight issue again with service here as it is one of those restaurants who hide your wine in an ice bucket far,far away and they did not pay enough attention to when we needed topping up, requiring us to remind them – this is a real bugbear of mine !

Whilst settling up we were approached by Casper the Manager to ensure we had had a good night. We advised the food was exquisite and were mighty impressed but also highlighted the few service issues. Casper mentioned he had only joined a month ago from a Michelin starred establishment and that none of the serving staff at this restaurant had worked in one with such an accolade. One of his jobs is to ensure the Service standards were improved to this level. He was very hopeful that they would get a star this coming October. For the food I would not be surprised, but the service needs to ramp up to match it. The food at Indian Accent is extremely impressive ( very different to Gymkhanas style, more delicate , not so filling) the service will be improved (or maybe we were just unlucky on our night ?) and it’s a shame the drinks are so overpriced. If you could pick up the restaurant and drop it into Shoreditch or Dalston etc the prices would probably drop by 50% or so on the alcohol and that would make it a perfect restaurant. However definitely worth going for out of this world Indian with many twists and turns, and an unusual array of ingredients embracing cheeses and meats from Uk/France to carve out its own specific identity in what is becoming a crowded culinary area of expertise.

Indian Accent 16 Albermarle  Street, London ,W1S 4HW

Tel 0207 629 9802

Rating : Food – Blazingly Hot 5/5

Service 3/5