Benares

Visited with a work colleague and a client and have to say we found the entire experience to be quite simply excellent. The waiters, the food and the wine were all of an exceptional standard and we will certainly be returning. Highly recommend going for the grazing menu, with the top end wine to accompany it - simply brilliant. Without question it scored 10/10.
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Phillip, London
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Friday, April 18, 2008

Had a great dinner for 8 at Benares. Service was attentive, food great and wine list extensive. No fault at all. We will be back.
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DR
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Wednesday, April 02, 2008

We started the evening with cocktails in the bar, which were superb. The restaurant was buzzing. Staff were friendly, efficient and helpful. We had the soft shell crab and potato cakes to start and the monkfish and paneer filled ravioli for main with sides of aubergine and the basket of breads. For dessert we had the fennel bread and butter pudding, food was sublime. It was my husband's birthday which I mentioned at booking and they really made a fuss of him, plus they bought out the petit fors on a decorated plate with a candle, which was a nice touch.
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Angie B
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 8
Thursday, March 27, 2008

We visited this restaurant with a friend of ours who was over from America. The food was excellent and I ended up ordering a starter and a side dish as I could not decide between all the main meals. However all the alcohol was very, very expensive and the bill was quite a shock. If I came again it would be with friends who are tee total!
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Janice Hall
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 3
Monday, March 17, 2008

A group of us went to Benares on a Friday evening and like most IN restaurants, it was very busy but we were shown to our table very quickly. There were a lot of interesting items on the menu and I could have eaten them all. The food was excellent and the service was also very good. However the wine was extremely expensive and we decided to stay will the beers which did not dampen the evening. I am glad that I tried it but I found it to be too expensive!
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Ian Low
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 3
Thursday, February 28, 2008

I just want to say that we really enjoyed the food at Benares , the lobster was really nice and the lamb was good. The only negative was that the decor was ""run of the mill" minimalistic, nothing to remind you of authentic India

( expected more from Atul on this front) and the tables were too close to each other.

Will come again.
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M John
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 5
Wednesday, February 27, 2008

I took my fiance to Benares for a special birthday treat. The whole experience was flawless. A fantastic menu with impeccable service. Not stuffy at all, very relaxed.

We will definitely be making a return visit. An extra touch was that I booked online and simply mentioned in that email that it was a birthday treat. Without any other word on the subject, at the end of our meal our waitor brought a special birthday plate with extra petit fours and a lit candle! very personal service and a delight all round.
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Becky, West London
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Before we first went to Benares, nearly a year ago, I did some research, looking at user review sites, to see what other people thought. Mostly they seemed to be impressed, but I did notice a few bad reviews. Obviously I paid special attention to these, but I soon realised that they weren’t applicable to me. I’ll explain why.

The bad reviews came into two categories. The first category, was “people who were comparing Benares to other top class Michelin star restaurants in London or otherwise”, and thought that Benares was not as good as Tamarind, or Claridges, or The Ivy. This gave me my first reference point. The opinions of people who are able to compare between such venues are of no interest to me, as their expectations will be so much higher than my own, and their desire to put down what others deem to be of a quality, too great. I read them with interest, but didn’t let them sway my judgement.

The second category was “people who are so up themselves, they are not my sort of people”. It’s not so much a category, as a single review, where their entire enjoyment of a meal appeared to be dependant on the fact that when they asked for finger bowls, they were given hot towels! The opinion of people, who would complain about such a thing (in person at the time, and on the review site afterwards,) is of little interest to me, other than to satisfy my own sense of being a normal and rational member of society, who although appreciative of the ability to clean one’s hands is not going to get upset over the manner in which they are cleaned.

I fall into a third category, and I think you should know about this prior to reading my review, so you know if my judgement is of any interest to you. If you would insist on finger bowls, then enjoy my prose, but possibly don’t blame me if I recommend you give Benares your patronage, and they don’t meet your expectations.

My normal eating out is certainly of a higher class than many. I can’t remember the last time McDonalds, KFC, or Burger King (or their poor imitations) passed my lips, but the wife and I will often go to Wagamama, Pizza Express, or if we are in the vicinity, the excellent Mangosteen off Carnaby St is a veritable favourite. The curry houses of Brick Lane and our local Italian restaurants in Tooting have also never so far let us down. If we spend £40 between us on dinner for two, it was because we were really hungry, or shared a bottle of wine, or occasionally both. It is not unknown for our bill to be under £15 if we just want a main and a glass of water.

The occasion for our first visit to Benares was our first wedding anniversary. In April last year, Atul Kutcher had received his Michelin Star, his recipes in the Great British Menu and on Saturday Kitchen had got us excited, and his ability and willingness to make vegetarian food and put it on the menu sealed the deal. What helped too was a superb looking set menu, available lunchtimes and early dinner (until 18.30 I believe) which comprised of 3 courses, various extras, and a glass of wine for £29.99 each. The addition of two glasses of champagne, and the ubiquitous service charge left our final bill just short of 3 figures, but worth every penny.

We returned to celebrate my 31st birthday, although that was just an excuse to go back once they (finally) changed the set menu. I’m guessing it is an attempt to lure people back in following the new year lull, but the changes to the menu meant the price had dropped to £24.99 for the 3 courses, and the only thing apparently missing was that mineral water wasn’t included, where it was before.

I’ll take you through the food, translating the menu from its original menuspeak (I’m not a professional at this…) into Davespeak.

We arrived at about 5 to 12, and the restaurant was still being prepared. We were sat down in the bar, given a bowl of complementary spicy nuts, and asked if we wanted drinks (we declined, knowing the wine with the meal would suffice).

Soon enough we were seated in the corner of the restaurant, and provided with menus, wine list and mini poppadoms and chutneys (tomato, gooseberry, chilli, and lime). I won’t repeat myself too much, but I’ll tell you now – everything we ate was the finest example of such a thing we’d ever had. My starter was Lemon Thyme Infused Pollack Cakes with Cucumber Pachadi. Lisa’s Grilled Artichoke Salad with Chat Masala Vinaigrette was amazing too. A generous glass of white wine arrived at this point too (red and sparkling were options).

Main courses of Tandoor Cooked Chicken Supreme with Chestnut Kedegree (rice) for me, and Pickled Pumpkin Risotto with Grilled Portobello Mushroom for Lisa, with a tikka type sauce on both, was accompanied by the lightest, tastiest naan bread.

The most spectacular hot towels we had ever seen arrived once we’d finished our mains, looking like two breath mints on a double tea light holder, the waiter poured boiling water over them, and they expanded upwards to about 3 times their original height into perfect hot damp towels. (Seeing our delight the maitre d’ slipped us a couple as we left!)

Our desserts were worthy of photography, however my telephone’s photography was not worthy of our desserts – see below for the pictures I took. Lisa’s Assortment of Kulfis – mango, pistachio and lychee, complete with flower petals, and my Star Anise Scented Orange Jelly with French Meringue, were almost too beautiful to demolish with spoons, but we did anyway.

Coffee and petit fours followed, (tea would have been allowed) and the meal was complete. Total bill, £60 (we forgot that mineral water wasn’t included) including service charge, which was a delight to pay, as the staff were perfect – attentive without being oppressive, there when you needed them, and invisible when you didn’t, and able to answer important questions (is there gelatine in Dave’s dessert, or will Lisa expect him to share it?) when required.

Obviously, it was all of an extremely high standard, but we were only eating off the set menu, we didn’t explore the £32 Lobster tails, or the £400 bottles of Krystal and Krug, but we left perfectly full (dinner in the evening was cheese on toast!) and certainly satisfied. The nature of the meal got me thinking about value for money, as I often do, so I’ve done some research into what the equivalent courses would have cost at Pizza Express – size of stomach not being a factor – I doubt I’d be able to eat all the below at one sitting.

    Pizza Express    Price    Benares

Intro    Noci        1.95    poppadoms/chutneys

Starter    Bruschetta        3.65    Fish Cakes

Main    American Pizza    7.70     Chicken Curry

Side    Garlic Bread    2.10    Nan

Dessert    Toffee fudge glory    4.35    Orange Jelly

Coffee    Filter coffee        1.75    Coffee

Wine    175ml Chardonnay    3.80    Glass Sauvignon Blanc

Total             25.30

It kind of makes eating at the best restaurant I’ve ever eaten at seem a totally sensible and reasonably priced thing to do. Next time you are in Mayfair (Maybe browsing the Rolls Royce dealership next door) and you want a £25quid lunch – see if Benares has a table available…
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evergrowingbrain
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Me and my partner decided to go down to Benares recently as a treat as we had seen Atul Kocher on the TV and was very impressed by the look of his food.

The setting itself was small yet very cosy, the modern decor looked good although we did feel a little cramped.

We were sat near the bar to wait for our dinner and decided to try cocktails from the impressive cocktail menu, they were delicious and reasonably priced (I chose the elderflower marguerita and it was delicious).

We opted for the grazing menu at £65 per head, you can pay extra if you wish to have a selection of wines included to compliment the set menu but as we were on a budget we decided to opt for a less pricey bottle of wine from the drinks menu. The food itself was stunning, small portions but I found myself savouring every morsel of food. Highlights for me included the rump of lamb on a bed of chickpeas (tender and succulent), the crab rillet (mmm) and the unusual lavender yoghurt cake (different and delicious).

Now to the negatives. We were booked in at 9pm and did not leave till way past midnight. Between the first course and second we were left waiting almost an hour, staff were apologetic but for a michelin star eaterie I expect perfection. I was offered no compensation and took my own initiative and infomed them I would not be paying the whopping 12.5% dicretional gratuity which they seemed to be fine about.

Overall I would reccomend this resturant, the quality of the food is worth the eperience alone.

I do think it needs to tighten up on the service received if it is to retain its michelin star. Compared to the Savoy who also has a single michelin star, it is lagging way behind and mr Kocher should really take note of this...
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Ms C Pullen
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Sunday, January 20, 2008

Me and my husband went to Benares at the weekend for what we thought would be a treat. Unfortunately, we were both utterly disappointed.

Although the location and decor were nice, the food (which is the most important part) was an absolute let down. We had the mixed grill and potato cakes for starters. The mixed grill was nice but no different to a mixed grill anywhere else. The potato cakes were distinctly bland and incredibly flavourless. The only bit of flavour came from the two dabbles of sauce on the side.

This was followed by the Chicken Stew and Roe Deer for mains. What can I say? Bland, bland, bland. The chicken stew was basically boiled chicken with coconut sauce and boiled rice. No stew in sight. And absolutely flavourless. It was so bad my husband had to request some salt from the waiter just to give it some taste.

I had the roe deer. I had asked for Medium but ended up with Medium-rare. Again, the deer was without flavour. The only taste came from the sauce underneath the deer, but the deer itself had been cooked without any marinade at all. The risotto was equally as bland.

The food was so bad that neither of us could bear to finish it. In fact, we noticed that the man sitting next to us had also ordered the chicken 'stew' and he also left half of it in the plate.

The staff were not of a standard expected from a Michelin-starred restaurant. At no point after any of our meals were served did anyone approach us and ask if everything was fine. Nobody asked us if the food was ok or if we needed anything else. Even after taking away our half full plates, nobody asked us if we had enjoyed the meal.

We then had to wait over half an hour to get someone's attention to ask for the bill. We even knocked off half the service charge and still, nobody asked us what the problem was.

Considering the price, the food was awful. How on earth did this restaurant get a Michelin-Star? Compared to other Micheline-starred restaurants, this fairs very lowly indeed.

As for being an Indian restaurant - well, me and my husband are both Asians and having eaten Indian food most of our lives, we can safely state that the food served here is not at all Indian in anyway - ingredients, taste or even the way it looks.

Our advice is to stay away unless you want to pay ALOT for really bland food.
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N Akhtar
Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 0
Tuesday, January 08, 2008