London Weekend 2010

A December 2010 trip to London by fizzytom

Chutney Mary Photo - Chutney Mary, London, England

Quote: Another pre-Christmas weekend in the English capital

13 Photos

Chutney Mary

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Restaurant | "No Need to Get in a Pickle at Chutney Mary"

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Chutney Mary is situated on the Kings Road, not quite in Chelsea but a five minute walk from there. The nearest tube station is Fulham Broadway on the District line.

We were given a table for two at the edge of the room, where all of the tables are for couples. Larger groups are seated at tables in the centre of the room. In the section where we were sitting, and in the unused section (at least while we were there) just below us, there were candles burning each one of tens of antique style glass lamps which gave a really magical look to the room. On the walls behind the lamps were ornate wall hangings made from glittering gold threads which shimmered against the flickering candlelight.

The drinks menu was just one side of paper and had four sections: wines, cocktails, non-alcoholic long drinks and beers. There were three beers available and Himself chose the Meantime Pale Ale (£5.15). I ordered a Lychee Martini which at £7.50 was rather pricey but turned out to be worth every penny; I'm not sure whether the cocktail was made with an alcoholic lychee syrup or if it was just lychee juice or syrup but it was beautifully refreshing with a lovely floral bouquet which gave a distinctive flavour but didn't completely overwhelm the crisp botanics of what was obviously a quality gin. It was served in a classic martini glass and looked very elegant. With drinks at hand we sat back to make our choices from the menu.

The Sunday lunch special consists of three courses for £22 which is tremendous value given that main courses alone start around the £16 mark and go up to as much as £23.00. The dishes were split up into tandoori dishes; meat and poultry; seafood; and vegetarian. I was very tempted to go for one of the vegetarian dishes with the 7 dish vegetarian thali sounding good, but, even more so, the lotus root stuffed with fig. Unfortunately, though, having anut allergy, I am often not able to have the vegetarian mains so I plumped for a Goan green chicken curry, only to be informed it contained nuts! My next choice was nalli gosht, a lamb dishes in which lamb was slow cooked on the bone in a spicy sauce. There was only one seafood option - Mangalore prawns - which was described as being a fiery dish and this was further reinforced by the two chillies next to it on the menu and not wanting to be left with something that was too hot to handle, I decided to give it a miss. A prawn dish which sounded great but incurred a surcharge of £8.00. Himself also chose a lamb dish but his was from the tandoori section - a spicy lamb shank which would be served with a gravy and coriander mash.

Himself had chosen the Atlantic scallop (note singular here) which sat in a light broth. The scallop was cooked to perfection, wonderfully golden on top and bottom, yet lovely and tender inside. The broth was lightly spiced and fragrant, and Himself had no worries about using a spoon to ensure he got it all (in fact, had he been at home he'd have dunked some bread in it!). I had chosen the goose starter which was two small lump patties of finely minced goose meat, cooked in the tandoor (I think) and served with a very small spoonful of blueberry chutney. My starter was served on a long plate and the little shami kebabs sat on a thin strip of bright green banana leaf - the dark meat and the dark purple chutney looked really striking against the green of the leaf. The goose meat was sensational - beautifully tender and exquisitely spiced with cumin seeds being the most obvious flavour. These little kebabs were perfectly sized; the tangy chutney had just the right kick to it and wasn't too vinegary and the fruitiness was a good foil to the rich meat. The only disappointment was that the amount of chutney was miniscule and barely enough for two patties.

The mains arrived after a break that was just long enough to give us time to get excited about the next course. Mine was served in traditional Indian restaurant style in a small decorative pot, which, according to the menu, it had been cooked in. There were four decent sized pieces of lamb on the bone in this gloriously ochre sauce - I say on the bone with reservation because you had virtually only to look at it and the meat fell away delightfully. The sauce was rich and flavoursome, fairly hot but the real flavour was coming from the use of the spices and other ingredients rather than from chillies. There was a slight underlying sweetness - perhaps tamarind? - but on the whole the flavours were deep and warm. I had ordered a lemon pullao rice to go with it and this was served in a small metal pot which was rather fiddly to empty but looked rather nice anyway. We shared a garlic naan bread which was small and quite flat - as opposed to the mammoth naan breads served up in most curry houses - and a side dish of a white pumpkin raita which was actually rather bland and tasted mostly of natural yoghurt although it did look very pretty, strewn, as it was, with the ruby red jewels that are pomegranate seeds.

Himself managed to tear himself away from his lamb shank long enough to pass me a fork full of the richly aromatic shreds of meat which fell from the bone as easily as the lamb in my dish. It seemed like the lamb shank had been boiled in stocks and spices first and then finished in the tandoor (just a guess though). The meat itself was just moist enough but was like a spicy Sunday roast; the waiter poured a small jug of wonderfully scented gravy over the lamb as it was presented. There was a small portion of fresh coriander mashed potato on the plate with the lamb shank which was a teeny bit watery, in my opinion, though the coriander gave it a bit of life.

After a suitable pause we were offered the menu to peruse the desserts. Himself, hardly a pudding lover, made an exception when he saw that there was an Bramley apple and cranberry crumble with sweet chilli custard, and I chose the dark chocolate fondant with an orange blossom lassi. Mine was served in the centre of an enormous round plate with a teeny handle-less jug (it probably has a culinary name) of the lassi on the side. Was I supposed to sip it or pour it over my dessert? I poured it but not until I had cut open the fondant with relish to allow the rich dark chocolatey goo to spill out. It was heavenly! The lassi was less successful and seemed to me to have more of a flavour of mandarin oranges than orange blossom which, in my opinion, should be more perfumed and floral than overtly fruity. I was pleased I had only poured half around the fondant because the consistency was really too thin for a custard substitute and the strong bitter chocolate overpowered it. The rest was much nicer sipped. Himself enjoyed his crumble which contained plenty of both fruit and crunch with the crunch having plenty of cinnamon running through it. The custard was not such a hit and didn't really deliver the promised chilli kick, nor was it quite thick enough.

As entertaining as the afternoon was proving, we decided to indulge in a little retail therapy on the King's Road before catching the train north and resolved to stop for coffee elsewhere. I was tempted by the "infusions" though (not tea!), which were poured at table from clear tea pots into large clear cups.

We really enjoyed what we had and couldn't fault Chutney Mary in terms of quality and value for money - at least not when choosing the three course Sunday option. The only let down was the toilets which are found at the top of the stairs near the entrance. In the ladies' there were two cubicles, and in one the toilet was blocked with toilet paper and the flush didn't work at all. I though this was a poor showing for a restaurant of this standard.

I'd have awarded five stars on the basis of the food but I'll shave off one star in respect of the toilet issue, the swift removal of my martini and the still slightly overbearing service.
We paid £ 72.73 in total including drinks (that includes everything mentioned here) and a 12.5% service charge. Read Less

Member Rating 4 out of 5 on December 26, 2010

Chutney Mary
535 King's Road
London, England SW10 0SZ
+44 20 7351 3113

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Clink 78 London Hostel

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Hotel | "Close Confinement at Clink Hostel"

Clink 78 Photo - Clink 78 London Hostel, London, England

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Clink 78 (there are two Clink hostels fairly close to one another, Clink 261 is on the Grays Inn Road) is housed in a former courthouse and some of the rooms were formerly the holding cells. We booked through a third party hostel booking website, paying a ten per cent deposit in advance and the remainder on arrival at the hostel. Clink 78 is situated on the Kings Cross Road which is a continuation of Pentonville Road and runs parallel with the Grays Inn Road. The nearest tube station is Kings Cross St Pancras and the hostel is a ten minute walk (at the very most) from the station. It's a handsome building with a fairly grand doorway and steps. Unfortunately, in spite of request...Read More