Mehek Restaurant & Bar,
London Wall
Kim
McAusland was our reporter
Looking
for a place to relax after work with
friends, or somewhere civilised to
entertain clients at lunch? Fancy
something a little bit special or
different? Discretely tucked away
on London Wall in the City, you'd
never have thought that Mehek, formerly
know as Jaipur, could satisfy all
of the above.
Specialising
in fusions of oriental and North
West Indian cuisine, Mehek's menu
- which offers both rabbit and venison
- is so different that your average
chicken madras will seem rather dull
in comparison once you've tried it.
We found the service to be friendly
and very professional; attentive
without being obtrusive. The ambience
was pleasantly mellow with a good
buzz enhanced by the subtle background
music that was Indian in origin but
modern in style.
The restaurant
is elegantly contemporary, with polished
light wooden floors. A cream and
adobe décor with up-lighters and
down-lighters is given its Oriental
references with large wall-mounted
mahogany bas-relief screens. There's
a long sit-up bar as you walk in
and the restaurant area has seating
on two tiers. On entering, I was
immediately struck by the fresh orchids
on every table. For our aperitif,
we started with a Pineapple & Green
Chilli Martini Cocktail...not what
we would have chosen for ourselves
but we were happy to try the recommendation
and found ourselves pleasantly surprised.
The coupling of pineapple and chilli
was refreshing - mildly hot, the
chilli just lingered at the back
of the throat and left you with a
lovely tingle. Cocktails are the
speciality of head barman, Jes Moor
who used to shake them up at the
Cinnamon Club. Complimentary popadoms
were accompanied by a trio of unusual
but exceptionally tasty dips, including
a carrot, raisin and ginger mixture
that we thought was particularly
yummy.
Chef
Ashok Kumar, previously of Mayfair's
famous Tamarind curry restaurant,
has set out a menu to satisfy all
tastes whether you're a meat eater,
fish fan or vegetarian. All the recipes
are cooked with fresh spices and
fresh (not frozen) meats and. Though
you'll find familiar names on the
list, like murg masala (tandoori
chicken) or rogan josh (lamb curry),
you'll find more unusual dishes,
too, like junglia maans (spiced venison)
or samundari khazana (scallops, mussels,
prawns and tilapia in coconut sauce)
or khargosh ka kalmi kebab (rabbit
marinated in onions, cheese, cream
and spices).
For appetizers,
I tried the Kebab platter, costing £10.95.
Ideal if you find so many of the
appetizers as tempting as we did
and can't make up your mind. Your
waiter will be able to change the
mix to your taste. Our platter was
composed of the tandoor style chicken,
which was tender and beautifully
spicy, the king prawn, flavoured
with ajwain and the scallop which
just melted in my mouth. For my main
course, I tried two of the main curry
dishes (prices vary from £9.95 to £10.95
for main dishes) - the Achari Jhinga
(prawns cooked with pickling spices)
and, Murgh Masala (tandoori chicken
cooked in creamed tomato and fenugreek
sauce). These were complimented with
a selection of the vegetable dishes
(£3.95 each) the Lal Mirch Ke Aloo
(saute potatoes with red chilli),
Paneer Kurchan (Indian cottage cheese
with mixed pepper) also accompanied
by a selection of Naan breads and
Cucumber Raita.
My dining
partner, into red meats, tried the
Pardha Biryani (lamb baked with spiced
rice) which was slowly cooked in
the traditional north Indian way
in an individual pie-pastry covered
pot, in which the rice, spices and
tender lamb gently meld into scented
succulence. Brilliant, he said. He
also tried the Rogan Josh (lamb curry)
and found the tender lamb slowly
braised with onions and infused with
chillies and Kashmiri spices to be
equally satisfying.
Together
we tried a mix of desserts - the
Indian pistachio ice cream was delicately
delicious, the Halwa Samosa we found
tastier by far than the usual sticky
Indian sweet and the Tandoori grilled
pineapple, made the perfect finale.
Mehek, an Indian fusion restaurant
for today's more sophisticated City
tastes. Spot on.
Mehek
Restaurant & Bar
45 London Wall, Moorgate, London,
EC2M 5TE
Tel:
020 7588 5043 www.mehek.co.uk
Opening:
Mon - Fri 12 noon - 3pm & 5.30pm
- 11pm. Sat 5.30pm - 10.30pm
Cuisine: Indian
Average Price: £30 - £35
Nearest Tube: Moorgate
Dress Code: None
Kim McAusland, January 2004
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