Trishna

Trishna offers a three course set lunch for £18, or a single course “express” lunch for £10 (one course and a drink). For those in less of a rush there was a seven course tasting menu for £44. The wine list was unusually extensive for an Indian restaurant, with a wide range of geographic coverage and price ranges. Examples included Painted Wolf Pinotage at £33 for a wine that you can buy in the shops for around £9, the wonderfully named Ten Minutes by Tractor Pinot Noir at £61 for a wine that retails at around £22, and Chateau Talbot 1995 priced at £179 compared to a retail price of about £67.

At a February 2012 meal, fish tikka was made from stone bass with a coating of pepper, and worked really well: the spicing was lively, the fish well cokked (14/20). Fish curry was pleasant though by contrast with the fish tikka, the spicing was a bit subdued (12/20). Okra was very good, with no hint of the sliminess that so often afflicts this dish in restaurants (14/20). Aloo gobi was had good texture but was a bit over-salted, even to my taste (13/20). The butter crab had too much butter in it for me (though still a fraction of the butter used in Mumbai Trishna).  Service was very good indeed, with helpful and efficient staff even with a completely packed room. Trishna is definitely one of the more interesting Indian restaurants in London.

The notes below are from a 2011 meal.

Popadoms were crisp and accompanied by various home-made chutneys, which had good, distinct spicy taste (13/20). My potato chat was excellent, the chickpeas tender, the potato still having some texture rather than being mushy, the onion and chilli providing some sharpness and the sweet yoghurt and tamarind providing enough moistness for a dish than can easily be too dry – a really excellent chat (15/20).  Seafood biriyani (sic) was nicely made, the rice texture good, the pieces of assorted seafood and fish tender (13/20). A yellow dhal was quite spicy though for me it could have been thicker (12/20) while assorted breads were reasonable (13/20).

It was nice to see an Indian restaurant making its own desserts, and carrot halwa was excellent, laced with pistachios (14/20) while a date creme brulee with honey ice cream was also well made (13/20). Service was rather sloppy in places, but all well-meaning enough. The bill at lunch per person was £30 a head, admittedly with lassi rather than alcohol. Overall some excellent food, a slightly better experience than my last (also good) meal here.

Further reviews: 24th Feb 2014 | 01st Nov 2008