Restaurant Review: Gymkhana (W1S)
On a quest to defy the ‘students only eat crap’ cliché, Max Raphael sets out to find the best value meal in London - and it’s not what you’d think...
Source: Gymkhana Restaurant
Back before Tier 4, I had an incident with the police - well, that might be an overstatement, but… I, along with four other Law students got stopped just as we were leaving our tutorial and ‘reminded’ of the restrictions on people meeting indoors. Ignoring the fact that anyone with even one marginally functioning eye could have told that we were clearly students leaving a university building, the thing about the whole affair that annoyed me most wasn’t that that we were stopped, nor the ‘oh well then you should know the law’ joke that was ceremoniously wheeled out the second we told them what we studied. No, what annoyed me most was a comment one of the officers dropped when they realised we were students. ‘You all make sure you’re eating well’ she said, cooing, ‘I know what students are like! Pot Noodle every day!’ Predictably, I took that personally.
This year, we’ve seen a lot of people’s preconceptions about students thrust very strongly into the mainstream, and the thing is, a lot of them are complete bollocks. Just because we’re at university doesn’t mean we’re not physically capable of ingesting broccoli, nor does it mean that we can’t appreciate good food. One stereotype that is true, though, is that we’re not exactly overflowing with cash. Uni is expensive — life is expensive. But, from my perspective at least, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be able to enjoy nice things every once in a while. So I set out that week to find the best value meal in London — and it’s not what you think.
Disclaimer: Gymkhana is most definitely not a cheap restaurant. That’s not what value represents to me. Having said that, it’s not mind-numbingly expensive either - we’re not talking River Café prices here. No, what Gymkhana is is perhaps the restaurant with the highest ‘flavour-to-price’ ratio in the city. It’s also hands-down the best Indian I’ve ever eaten.
I ventured into the heart of Mayfair with my flatmate on a Sunday afternoon, the best time for a long, boozy lunch, and I’ll admit I went in with extremely high expectations. This was a restaurant that I had heard an overwhelming number of good things about from some of the most knowledgeable foodies out there, and of course, it was to be my first review of a Michelin starred joint. High expectations indeed.
The first thing you notice when you arrive at Gymkhana is that it’s achingly pretty. After eating at the frankly ridiculous restaurant that is Bob Bob Ricard earlier this year, I had resigned myself to never being quite as wowed by the interior of a restaurant again — and honestly, I still haven’t been. The thing is though, while ol’ Bob Bob is gaudy in the extreme, with gold, ivory and blue marble everything polished to within an inch of its life, Gymkhana is understated, traditional, and just oozes class. If you go, make sure they seat you downstairs - the décor is turned up to eleven once you’re guided down into the lusciously carpeted, wood-panelled basement, built to echo the famed Gymkhana clubs of colonial India.
We decided to go with the set lunch menu (this is where you get the biggest bang for your buck): three courses and a wine pairing with a lovely spread of poppadoms and delicious little sauces and chutneys; then chai and petits fours to round off the meal.
Things kicked off swimmingly with a delicious glass of Italian red and — shock horror — a poppadom that was, like, nice? Mission Deli this ain't. Four different varieties of them, in fact, each as good as the last, and fantastic when paired with the sauces that accompanied them - the shrimp sorpotel and pickled lime raita were both especially good.
The starter came next, and we both decided on the duck egg bhurji, a luxuriously smooth plate of curried egg and fresh lobster, the richness delicately balanced by the clean tart notes of almost-raw onion and tomato. And we were just getting started.
For the main, I took Giles Coren’s advice to ‘always order the fish’ and went for a Goan prawn curry, while my dining partner went for a chicken butter masala. These are some of those ‘oh my God’ first bites - the rare occasion where something is so unbelievably tasty that you can’t help but put your fork down and just chew for a bit. The prawn is great — fresh, not fishy, and bursting with deep flavours of the sea — but the chicken…oh wow. Wow. I have never wanted to just steal someone’s entire meal more. Texturally, the meat is gorgeous. It manages to maintain just the right amount of bite before melting in your mouth into a pool of pure deliciousness. The creaminess of the curry itself is to die for. And the taste is just sublime - meaty, spicy (but not too spicy) subtly rich, the floral notes of the spices coming out even stronger when paired with the fluffiest basmati rice and perfectly doughy naan (itself swimming in garlic and coriander). This is a truly memorable plate of food - in any other Michelin starred restaurant, I’d happily pay the price of the entire meal for this main course alone.
Source: Gymkhana Restaurant
Dessert was good, but sadly unable to live up to the highs of the main course. I’ve never really been blown away by Indian desserts, and this one, while very good, was much the same. It was very nice, don’t get me wrong, my Pondicherry chocolate mess coupling nicely with a well-executed banana and cinnamon sauce, and anjeer kheer proving just as flavourful as any other dish on the menu. Still, through that and the chai we had to finish off the meal, and even as I rolled through my front door feeling like Mr Créosote after two hours of stuffing myself, I just couldn’t stop thinking about that main course.
This was a truly great lunch, and I mean that. Fantastic food, excellent, attentive service all presented in extremely attractive surroundings. And here’s the kicker — ready? This whole meal (not including the wine), will set you back a grand total of £36.50. That is, quite honestly, bonkers, and it’s why I called this the best value meal in London - this is a Michelin starred restaurant where you can get a three-course meal for 30 quid. That alone is a reason to pay it a visit. But truth be told, I’d happily pay double that for this stuff. It’s just that good. Contrary to what PC Plod might think, young people are just as food-obsessed and appreciative of quality as generations above us - so when food this good becomes this accessible, it’s really worth taking note. Hear ye, students, hear ye: you can get a Michelin starred meal for the price of a night at the pub. And a damn good one at that.
Gymkhana (W1S)
£££
Food: 9
Atmosphere: 10
Service: 8
Value: 10
Overall score: 9