From Covent Garden to Ewell

Saturday, July 31st , 2021

Louie (pictured) is a big-budget opening notionally showcasing the Creole food of Louisiana. Sadly Louie, despite its genuine Creole cooking credentials, is over-glitzy, overpriced and over here. Specifically it is in lavish multi-floor premises in Covent Garden. Lack of seasoning in a steak tartare was followed by an under-spiced gumbo and a woeful dessert, but the bill is high. One to avoid.

Dastaan, by contrast, represents fabulous value. The cooking team behind Gymkhana when it gained its star moved here almost en masse some years ago, and are producing for me the best Indian food in and around London right now. Spices are vibrant, cooking is skilful and the depth of flavour that is extracted from some dishes is remarkable.  It is far from Mayfair but well worth the trip. Methi murgh, kumbh palak and monkfish tikka particularly impressed at our most recent meal, but it is hard to choose here: everything is lovely.