Trishna

This was my first visit since their early 2014 refurbishment, which turns out to have been far from radical. The room layout is the same though the lighting has changed, and apparently the kitchen is larger. 

Duck chaat was a pleasant starter, with a definite chilli kick (13/20). Fried and spicy squid (chipirones) and samphire had tender squid and was an unusual and enjoyable dish (13/20). Cauliflower samosas came with a carrot, ginger and cauliflower chutney, and although perfectly pleasant, £10 for two very small samosas is hardly a bargain (12/20). Better was bream marinated with coriander and green chilli before being cooked in the tandoor, served with tomato “kachumber”, a salad of tomato, onion and cucumber. The fish had excellent flavour and had taken on the flavour of the marinade well, while the tomato salad was an effective accompaniment (comfortably 14/20). 

Seafood biryani had scallops and sea bass and had nicely cooked rice, though this was not a patch on the best biryani that I have eaten in India (13/20). Tiger prawns with Keralan spices and a coconut-based sauce was enjoyable enough, though at £17 an extra prawn or two would not have gone amiss (13/20). The dish of the night for me was a side dish: bhindi was stir-fried and avoided even a hint of the sliminess that so often afflicts the dish – instead the okra was firm and dry, garnished with fennel and fenugreek seeds and coconut, and was delightful (15/20). Potato with curry leaves, ginger and chilli retained the texture of the potato properly (13/20), and a bread selection was fine, my favourite being a potato kulcha.  

We tried a couple of desserts, a pleasant mango concoction involving mango jelly, mango cream and mango chutney (13/20) and chocolate cake with cashews and peanut jiggery ice cream, which was fine if unexceptional (12/20). Service was excellent, the Polish sommelier in particular genuinely knowledgeable and helpful. We drank assorted glasses of wine with the meal. With bhindi at £8, the bream starter at £14 and the potato side dish at £7 this all mounts up, our bill coming to £101 a head, the food element of the meal coming to £48 a head. If you drank modest wine then we could have eaten the same food for around £65 a head, but all the same this seems to me quite fully priced. It is cheaper than its younger sister Gymkhana, and overall I slightly prefer the overall experience at Trishna.

Further reviews: 23rd Feb 2012 | 01st Nov 2008