The location might give you some clue of what to expect, but there will be times when you’re expected to ring the doorbell to enter Rasoi, this high-end Michelin-starred Indian restaurant in Chelsea; such is its exclusivity.
Once inside, you’re treated to dining-room elegance; classy furnishings, design touches which give an air of opulence and splendour, and which at the same time never overpower the surroundings.
Rasoi is one of a few Indian restaurants in London to win the Michelin and, like the others, there is a distinctly modern edge to the food – fine ingredients rubbing shoulders with the more traditional foodstuffs you might expect to see, and some distinct and unexpected global influence. Here Rasoi really makes its mark – rather than sticking to one palette of flavours and spices it pulls from several, maintaining the Indian edge through preparation techniques but pulling in sources of heat and depth of flavour from all over.
So, for example, tandoori lobster might be flavoured with wasabi and curry leaves and served with lentils and a flaked rice-chestnut salad. Tandoori salmon, one of the favourite flavours of the high-end Indian restaurant market, might be served here with a potato and dill salad.
There’s invention galore – three types of chicken tikka, one ‘silver crusted’, is served with a chicken salad cube; a lamb duo (tikki and braised knuckle) is served with a baby blue cheese naan; a black lentil roll comes with a truffle-laced lentil sauce; and spiced cod might come with purple potato chips, beetroot and cashews.
Alongside this, of course, you’ll find plenty of dishes that are more comfortingly familiar, with lamb, prawns scallops and fish being used in dishes which switch styles from region to region on the same plate, while remaining recognisable.
There are gourmand and vegetarian gourmand menus available, and an extensive wine list on hand which the sommeliers will be sure to help you match with your food choice’s intricate flavours.
Chef
Vineet Bhatia
While Vineet Bhatia has borrowed from European traditions to plate up his food, the manner and matter of his dishes are unmistakably those of India, handled with immense sophistication and personal panache.
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Signature dishes