Koyal

I have written previously about the background of Koyal, with its relationship to Dastaan and the little family of restaurants that include The Kokum, Black Salt and Dastaan Leeds. Chef and owner Nand Kishor, who was formerly head chef of Trishna and Gymkhana.

I had pre-ordered chicken from Arnaud Tauzin in the Landes in the south west of France, arguably the best chicken producer in the world. The free-range chickens here, fed on produce grown on the same farm and entirely brought up in the open air, have magnificent flavour. The birds here are many times the price of regular chicken, but you really see the difference. This is not on the regular menu and must be pre-ordered several days ahead, and is not available on weekends.

The Tauzin chicken was used in chicken tikka and chops, the former using the breast meat and the latter using the thigh meat. The tikka had superb flavour and texture, but the thigh meat flavour was even deeper and was really quite remarkable. For comparison, we had a regular chicken tikka also, and this was lovely, carefully cooked and with excellent flavour from the marinade (16/20). However, the use of the Tauzin chicken would elevate this score by a couple of points if I were to score it.

Wild boar shoulder (£18.50) was cooked with Goan Toddy vinegar and spices. Toddy vinegar is from the sap of unopened flowers of the coconut tree. A groove is made in the trunk of the tree and an earthenware pot is placed beneath it, the sap oozing out over a period of weeks. The sap is filtered through a muslin cloth and left undisturbed for around 22 days, then strained into bottles for consumption. This vinegar is used in Goan dishes such as vindaloo and sorpotel, a lovely hot and sour pork dish often served at festivals. The use of wild boar today rather than regular pork was an inspired idea, the deep flavour of the boar really shining through compared to versions of this dish I have eaten previously with pork. This was a fabulous dish, hot and sour and deeply flavoured (easily 17/20). 

Lacha paratha (£4) was very good, light and avoiding any greasiness; this bread tends to be either too dry and flaky or too greasy, but this was just right. More of the chicken was made into a superb methi chicken curry, with the usual strong fenugreek flavour that went really well with the chicken (16/20 for regular methi chicken here, but more for this version with the Tauzin chicken). Side dishes were top notch too, with garlic mustard potatoes that had superb texture and a gentle hint of spice (16/20). Black dhal was dark and brooding and smoky, a superb example of the dish (16/20).

For dessert, we had a black carrot halwa, which had excellent flavour and texture (easily 15/20). Service was very good. The bill came to £118, but that was with a hefty supplement for the Tauzin chicken, which bumped up the bill. A regular meal here with beer to drink might be around £60 a head. The food was superb today, and that is before I get to the dishes with the special chicken. It was comfortably 16/20 level on the normal menu dishes, and higher if I had counted the Tauzin chicken dishes. Koyal may be way out of central London, but there is not a single Indian restaurant in the capital serving better food. Not one.  

Further reviews: 12th Aug 2025 | 02nd Mar 2025 | 27th Dec 2024 | 06th Dec 2024 | 06th Oct 2024