PROFILED BY DEGROOTS MEDIAYou will want to eat at British India for the decor alone. It is all-consuming. Old school British rule has never looked so cool. Stuffed animal heads are usually the domain of stuffed shirts but these digs ooze glamourosity instead of pomposity. The unique style of British India lures in fashionable beasties with ease, making it hard to decide where to be seen sitting. If dining near a mantelpiece decorated with taxidermied animals is not to your taste then explore elsewhere. Sitting under a halo of delicate teacups is a prettier option. Suspended above one table are exquisitely patterned cups and saucers. Hung upside down, they serve as light-shades over fairy-sized globes. Their daintiness is emphasised by the stark wooden table settings below.
The menu at British India surprises with its listing of shepherd’s pie. It sounds humble enough but closer inspection reveals Indian spiced lamb curry combined with vegetables and mashed potato in the individual pies. Rack of lamb brings tandoori cooked cutlets together with date and apple coleslaw with cumin dressing. Traditional Indian offerings include seafood indulgences of prawn Malabar, consisting of tiger prawns sauteed in onion and tomato, then finished with cream, coconut and fresh coriander. Vegetarians will delight in the mushroom muttar, made with Swiss browns and green peas flavoured with a sprinkling of cumin and a snip of green chilli. Even sweets are spicy at British India, with black pepper making an appearance in a dessert of roasted pineapple with pistachio ice-cream.
Roz Taylor, June 2008
