The team behind Zaika is the well know Tamarind Collection, who also own the likes of well respected Tamarind of Mayfair and Imli street – Soho’s go-to spot of classic Indian street food. When I heard Zaika was coming back I had no idea what to expect, and actually they surprised me with this new opening – being very traditional in its approach. The kitchen here is run by executive chef, Sanjay Gaur and head chef, Dayashanker Sharma – who both seem to have whipped this kitchen back into shape. The menu is short, but very well executed and with the likes of this mixed sprouts tiki on the menu they’ve already got me weak at the knees. Gorgeously crisp patties put together with mixed sprout and potato, which encompasses a sweet, thick apricot and coriander sauce, all sitting on a smear of mint and ginger chutney. This is Indian comfort food at its best.
From the grill, I wasn’t going to miss the opportunity of sampling the delicately spiced, juicy prawns. Jhinga shimla- merch was a plate full of large, grilled tiger prawns marinated in a pureed red pepper and such a refined mix of spices the kitchen couldn’t have possibly made this any better. The creamy marinade had created a sort of jacket to the prawns which meant for an explosion of flavours to the palette. There is a great seafood and shellfish selection on the menu here at Zaika I have no doubt that they cook everything else just as much precision. One thing I will comment on though is the wine list. Instead of feeling well chosen it instead felt very commercialised and chosen only for I suspect great margins – although that is all speculation. White wine was not served cold enough either, but at the rate I get through it I hardly noticed.
Where’s the best chicken tikka massala in London? That I’m sure is a question which most British people would like the answer too. The North Indian/British creation is still as ever as popular in this country and for those who don’t want to eat a version which is swimming in yesterdays oil then this dish is for you. Murgh handi lazeez as it reads on the menu is surprisingly a very similar variant – although I’m sure many will argue with that. In India this dish has a good hit of saffron but here its base is much more westernised – but in a good way. The creamy spiced sauce was magnificent. Slightly sweet, perfectly balanced and like everything so far – it seemed so incredibly refined. Soft juicy chicken was well coated in its tikka marinade The morsels of chicken were a dream and couldn’t have been more juicy if they tried. And the tikka marinade coating them? well that was just on another level. We ordered a side of saffron rice – which I must say was the perfect accompaniment and as fluffy as a cloud. The food so far here at Zaika was worlds apart from how it used to be only just a couple of years ago.
Palak paneer as the vegetarian option is not simply an alternative to the meat courses, but it could easily be an alternative – even for the carnivore in you. What it lacks in meat, it give in a delicate, but aromatic flavour. Hiding underneath all the vibrant green spinach goodness was some lovely pieces of soft paneer which had been marinated in an onion-tomato masala mix. It was the stuff of legends and every mouthful such a joy, we didn’t want it to end. Thankfully it took a little more time to put away because we had a (wait for it) – truffle naan to mop it all up with. You’re not hallucinating, I haven’t made a typo – they were serving truffle naans. Either I died and went to heaven or these guys know how to win my heart over, ten fold. The naan lived up to every expectation we had too, and more.
Desserts on the whole were good at Zaika but of the two we tried the Old Monk rum baba was a sure winner. It’s been years since I last ate rum baba and this reminded me of just how much more I needed it in my life. It wasn’t particularly show stopping, or even a technically complicated dish but it effortlessly reminds you of those cold nights when you should be wrapped up in your living room, roaring fire burning and all. A chocolate bounty bar also appealed from the menu but with the words ‘gluten free‘ muddled in to the title it put me off a little – they’re not words that should really be the first thing you read unless in your local cold pressed juice shop.
Red velvet sponge was certainly not a dessert I was expecting to see in an Indian restaurant. Was it amazing, no – but it was very satisfying. The main problem was the cake was split in to two pieces and meant that each piece had time to dry out ever so slightly, or at least that was how it tasted. On the flip side the flavour of this red velvet cake was post on. I could have perhaps likened the idea of the shavings of milk fudge on top but they were too cold to extract much flavour from them, meaning nothing more than decoration. The sour cherry sorbet was the stuff of dreams and you’ll struggle to eat such a sorbet in London as good as this right now. Zaika is not only a fantastic addition to Kensington, but to the whole of London – I just hope this new Zaika is here to stay.
8/10
