I’ve been eating an awful lot of Indian food recently. From casual street food bites, right the way through to rich fine dining. People always ask me what my favourite food is and without being cliché to this post, it really is Indian cuisine. Indian food offer such a wide spectrum of flavours, intensity’s and utilises almost every food item, from meat, seafood and more vegetables than you could ever imagine. If you travel up from the south to India’s coastal regions you’re greeted with delicate coconut fish dishes, but to the north – fiery bowls of lal maas from Rajasthan. I could go on forever, but instead you’ll simply have to take my word for it. Indian cuisine has it all.
We had grand plans to sit outside in The Painted Heron’s new terrace, but good old British weather meant torrential rain so we started with a cheeky cocktail in the hope of it brightening up. A well constructed whiskey sour with a nice punch and fresh poppadoms with a selection of heavenly chutney’s. A garlic laden salsa, spicy mango and my favourite – the beetroot chutney. All together piled high on a shard of poppadoms went down very well. The vivid colour also brought the sun with it so we quickly moved outside into the terrace.
One thing I will have to say about The Painted Heron is it isn’t the cheapest of restaurants, in fact it’s rather expensive. Now I’m not saying it isn’t worth every penny, because it is. But for some reason people will happily pay £18 for a plate of quality veal in the UK, but not the same price for a bowl of quality veal curry – a little odd if you ask me. That’s the British mentality for you wanting to pay £5.50 for a chicken tikka massala. Still if you’re on a budget, this restaurant offers a fantastically priced set lunch menu and a bottomless option served 7 days a week which is VERY attractive and includes the outstanding paneer tikka pictured above. I’ve eaten a lot of paneer in my time but never have I had it this good. There was no sight of this cheese’s sometimes rubbery texture, but instead it cut through like butter, was very moist and the tikka flavour covering it was stunning. Sampling the cheese as part of a mixed grill starter we also enjoyed some very well cooked pieces of lamb chops, tiger prawns and duck tikka. Every bite of each was a sheer delight.
The mixed grill for our starter was so generous we were already full, but that didn’t stop us ploughing through half of the menu which covered our terrace table. Star main course of our lunch had to be the stir fried rose veal, griddled with tawa spices, red onion and chilli powder. The meat was beautifully cooked, falling apart at the touch of our fork while the sauce was rich, yet very refined without overpowering – but instead working in perfect harmony with the delicate veal. Just as good was the dark red rogan josh curry with dried apple and Spring lamb neck fillets. Rogan josh isn’t normally our curry dish of choice, but we were pleasantly surprised with the version here. A real classic came in the way of a chicken tikka korma which as you could probably guess, was fantastic and really set the benchmark for a dish so well-loved by the British.
One thing all dishes here at The Painted Heron must be accompanied by is their signature saffron rice and crisp garlic & keema naans, all of which add yet another dimension and flavour to the whole meal. Aside from all the meat we’d been eating, we also tried a selection of vegetable dishes and to my surprise one of those turned out to be my favourite – the broccoli, cauliflower and peas poriyal. A slightly different take on a classic, the sauce here was absolutely magnificent. Silky, smooth and rich in coconut. Enjoying it far too much I even devoured the fiery red chilli, mistaking it for a piece of aubergine somehow – it was VERY hot. A bowl of creamy black lentils had a lovely lingering aroma and the same delicious cubes of quality paneer we had earlier made up as part of a gorgeous pureed spinach curry.
I’m normally a big fan of Indian desserts and can’t resist a good gulab jamun or gajar halwa. Somehow however we seemed to have come off track a little and didn’t order any of those, but instead a dessert platter made up of some very British desserts. A pleasant enough selection but not at all what we wanted – this is an Indian restaurant after all. Keep the chocolate fondant but if you could lace it with some cardamom – I’d be a very happy foodie.
Overall our meal at The Painted Heron was rather a surprise. I’ve visited this place before around two years ago and for whatever reason back then I didn’t fall in love with it, but two years later and something has really changed. The quality of ingredients is outstanding, the precision of cooking is carefully orchestrated and the flavours are not only rich and lingering, but refined and moorish. Head chef, Yogesh Datta knows exactly what he’s doing here and given I live quite literally a 30 second walk away this will most certainly become my new favourite local. I can’t wait to explore more of the menu and of course, give that bottomless option a good run for its money.
