It was with high anticipation that Gourmand Gunno returned to Gymkhana for the first time since its recent garlanding as London’s only Indian restaurant with two Michelin stars. High hopes often leave scope for disappointment and while the food certainly pleased, in the final assessment there is no way that Gymkhana deserves both its stars.
Gymkhana first opened over a decade ago. It was the venue that catapulted its backers, the JKS Group, properly onto the London dining scene. Subsequent refinements to its template have seen them open Brigadiers, Bibi, Hoppers and more. The guiding principle is to elevate Indian cooking beyond the old school curry house and into the echelons of fine dining. Combine this with a distinct emphasis on aesthetics (often in the form of homage to the colonial era), and a sprinkling of celebrities (the Beckhams are apparently big Gymkhana fans) and you have a winning formula. Read my original review from early 2014, and you will see full praise for what the restaurant offers.
This time was very different. Things began somewhat inauspiciously. We had planned a pre-dinner drink in Gymkhana’s newish upstairs bar. A beautiful room for sure, once we got there. Several microphoned staff apparently needed to negotiate with each other before we were finally allowed upstairs into the hallowed space. Then, there was a good 15-minute wait before our table even became available. One martini took the edge off things but did make the subsequent negotiation of the narrow passageway (which seemingly doubles as a cloakroom) into the restaurant more complex, particularly for your reviewer’s high-heeled dining comrade.
The main dining space is impressive, a set of artfully discreet booths with wood panelling and mirrors. The restaurant manager was also super-accommodating – perhaps in recognition of our prior mishap – and even moved us to a better table, once it became available. Overall, it would be fair to say that all the staff whom we encountered were well-intentioned. This is obviously necessary, but far from sufficient, especially in a two-starred restaurant. In other similarly recognised restaurants, your reviewer and his dining comrade have always found service close on impeccable. Here, the staff forgot on multiple occasions that one of our party was vegetarian. A shrimp paste dip was brought to our table to accompany the poppadums, despite only being suitable for half the table. One waiter laboured in his description of kid goat curry – but to the wrong person. Our final savoury dish saw our accompanying raitas mixed up. The Sommelier rushed to empty our bottle and had a tendency to over-fill our glasses. And so it goes on.
At least the food was good, even if far from excellent. The angle at Gymkhana seemed to be quantity over (utmost) quality. Most tasting menus your reviewer has tried emphasise delicacy and comprise multiple small dishes. Gymkhana’s seemed to be one of multiple mains strung together. Indeed, there was so much on the table that both your reviewer and his dining comrade were unable to get much more than halfway through their penultimate course. The Michelin star awarder must have a very definition of “refined and inspired” – the qualitative requirement for two stars – than ours. That said, there were some wow dishes. Give me Gymkhana’s goat curry – on the menu since 2013, albeit now served without the accompanying brains – any day. It’s delicate, creamy and earthy with a subtle cumin and black pepper punch. Pink shrimps also pleased as did my comrade’s achari tikka paneer, a generously decadent block of curried cheese. The dessert of saffron pistachio kulfi, however, sounded so much better than it tasted and came paired with a decidedly curious fizzy Moscato wine.
I wanted to love Gymkhana. I would happily go back for an a-la-carte meal, but I certainly wouldn’t recommend it for a celebratory meal or award it two stars.