Indian Accent (Mayfair)

The set menu today started with the signature blue cheese naan and shot of pumpkin-spiced soup which was a great start as always.  My choices for today started with chilli pork ribs which had a delightfully crispy masala crackling (deep-fried coating) and chilli sauce.  This was very good and the heaviness of the sauce was compensated by the sharp of pickled julienne vegetables.

Tawa chicken was the main selected.  This was boneless chicken served with a house curry which was served essentially as a spicy curry over the girdle cooked chicken and was carefully presented.  All main courses came with a collection of sides for everyone representing further excellent value.  These included tadka khadai vegetables, new potatoes with charred coriander, basmati rice that was light, fluffy and lengthy as well (a usual tale-tale sign of higher quality), roast sunchoke and boondi raita, naan breads and a sensational dal.  This black dairy dal had been prepared for 48 hours and this produced an ultra-creamy and luxuriously smooth dal – I have not had a finer dal to date.

There were numerous desserts to choose from but I could not resist going for the superb makhan malai which is essentially a large, aerated mousse made with saffron which is delicately judged on all levels and the brittle pieces of rose petal jaggery (a form candy) and almonds giving a superb textural crunch and sweetness to the saffron.  This is an excellent dessert and is also a signature dish which is great to see on the lunch menu.  The coconut cheese cake with very good chocolate sauce and the treacle tart were also very good to taste.

This was a quality meal and considering that it is essentially 4 courses (with amuse bouche) for £27, this is the staple example of why I enjoy/prefer going to establishments such as these in a heartbeat compared to restaurants of poor quality that charge virtually the same.  If you enjoy Indian food and want quality, I cannot stress how much this restaurant is for you.

I have been to Indian Accent twice and each time, the amuse bouche of coconut and pumpkin mini soup at the start has been utterly superb and with a surprisingly good blue cheese naan bite as well.  It is unusual for me to think so much of an amuse bouche, but this really did succeed.  The vegetable naan with supporting pau dip was pleasing whereas the smoked bacon and butter chicken kulfas were utterly beautiful.  Each kulfa has their superb filling and the sheer kick of flavour from the excellent bacon filling in particular is frankly marvellous.

The dahl was reassuringly smooth and creamy and the shredded and spiced lamb with mini pancakes is another quality dish.  As the lamb is spiced so well, I didn’t think it actually needed the overly powerful supporting chutneys, however the lamb was gorgeously tender with the fun of packing and wrapping your own pancake to taste.  Chicken kofta with its vegetable fritters and and sour yoghurt sauce was nicely done but the other main star of the show was soy keema dish with quail’s egg. The indulgent egg gives the already wonderful keema dish another level of decadence and to eat it, you would not have any idea that a soy dish could taste this good – it is a reason to come to Indian Accent on its own.

The lentil cereal was light and crispy as another play on the conventional use of lentils and its side of cauliflower transformed in to wafer-thin crisps producing a pleasing but on the dryer side of a dish.  Already approaching full, the thought of a dessert was not at the uppermost on the mind, however we were assured that the Makhan Malai would not be heavy.  Thankfully this turned out to be 100% correct as was essentially a very airy mousse made from saffron and milk with just a few almonds for texture and rose petals for presentation.  Saffron can be quite pungent, but this was done to a remarkably good balance and skilful level in a dessert not seen very often and which was another success of the meal.

All in, the bill came to just under £50 per head for additional snacks, three courses, tea, beers and service which, for this standard of cooking was entirely fair and I was more than ok with this price as a result.  In my view it actually out-classes the 5 Michelin starred Indian restaurants in the UK (all of which happen to be in London).  Although these are good, I would sooner return to Indian Accent in a heartbeat before hand.