Located on Maddox Street in London and neighboring some of the capital’s best designer shops, hotels and restaurants, Kanishka aims to offer modern, Pan-Indian cuisine that showcases the regional variety of Indian food. With Kanishka coming from one of the UK’s most celebrated chefs, Atul Kochhar – expectations were rather high. Having left Benares in Mayfair back in 2018, it seems Atul has built himself up quite an empire since and I’m so glad because he always brings such excitement and modern flare to his menus.
As you arrive from the street, you’re greeted by large, beautiful antique-looking wooden doors, but step inside and you’re transported to an uber-modern setting like something out of the latest design book. A striking twisted ceiling, black and white striped walls and pops of aqua blue adorning mirrors which make this place seem much larger than it actually is.
To kick off proceedings we soaked up our surroundings, took in all the modern glamour, and sipped on a chilled glass of something sparkling, along with some lovely little canapes which really got our taste buds salivating.
We ate from their early bird set menu which was priced at 3 courses for £40 or dinner, £54. My chosen starter was one of the restaurant’s signature dishes – Atul‘s chicken tikka pie. Perfectly crisp on the outside, juicy morsels of meat on the inside and spiced to absolute perfection. This pie does come with a supplement on the set menu, but it’s well worth it for the extra treat and to get a real sense of what to expect from Atul’s cooking.
For mains, I highly recommend you order the pan-fried salmon. Like most of the food here, the fish was beautifully cooked. Well marinated, moist and a lovely charred skin which was complete with that much hoped-for crunch. On the side, a sweet banana fritter, but the sauce is what really made this dish sing, A rich, thick and glossy Mappas curry that originates from Kerala. It’s the one place that’s always been on my travel bucket list because their fish curries and pristine blue waters are so renowned across the world.
All of the sides were excellent too and in fact, they could have been a meal on their own (also the reason I forgot to photograph them all). Fluffy steamed rice, the most heavenly saag makai paneer (tender paneer and corn with spiced spinach curry), aubergine and capsicum curry and a garlic naan – because you’ll need the latter to mop it all up with.
To finish (but with barely any room left) – crème brulée. This one was laced with ginger & mango, topped off with a thin shortbread stick, a touch of biscuit crumble and drops of berry gel. The texture of this brulee was spot on and everything else simply made for a lovely ending to our early dinner set menu.
I really enjoyed our meal here at Kanishka and it’s great to see Atul and his team continuing to light up the London dining scene. The food here although modern, still feels thoroughly Indian, but perhaps spice levels could be increased ever so slightly in dishes overall if I was really being truly picky. Kanishka is a great addition to add to your visit list if you love Indian food and personally, I can’t wait to see how the menus progress and change over the seasons. Would we come back? Yes – but perhaps I’ll tuck into the a la carte next time to get a real taste of what Kanishka really has up its sleeves.
