Serving conventional Indian dishes for the trendy palette in a grand and opulent setting in London’s West Finish.
We have been invited to the just lately opened Colonel Saab restaurant in Holborn not removed from London’s West Finish theatreland, brainchild of award profitable entrepreneur, Roop Partap Choudhary of the posh Noor Mahal Palace Resort.
That is Roop’s first enterprise into the hospitality sector within the UK and guarantees to be a really distinctive eating expertise with conventional dishes reflecting India’s various delicacies, served in an expensive setting surrounded by priceless Indian artefacts.
Colonel Saab occupies the bottom ground of the elegant outdated library of former Holborn city Corridor, positioned between Covent Backyard and Bloomsbury.
The restaurant is a homage to his father Manbeer, or Colonel Saab as he’s recognized from his days within the military, and his mom Binny.
The eating rooms and bar have been designed and adorned by Roop and Binny within the fashion of Indian grand stately houses. They’re opulent but inviting, showcasing the household’s heritage from India, Iran, and Colonel Saab’s years within the military whereas he was posted to totally different components of India.
Spice colored partitions are adorned with Persian rugs, attention-grabbing postcards from the time of Partition, beautiful Indian antiques and outdated household pictures. The attention is drawn instantly to the framed portraits of Colonel Saab and Binny surrounded by a group of ceramics from Binny’s travels, and some dozen rose tinted chandeliers hold from the ceiling like jewels. It’s a visible delight with objects of curiosity from each angle.
There’s a much less formal but superbly designed eating space on the mezzanine stage and two personal eating rooms accessible on request.
Karen Anand, meals writer and restaurant guide, created the menu with a group of dishes showcasing the perfect of true Indian regional delicacies, whereas the bar serves cocktails and mocktails combined with Indian flavours and spices.
Roop is a most affable particular person and his supervisor Atul, and employees have been very welcoming and pleasant. Atul introduced over our drinks, I’m not totally positive what they have been referred to as besides to say they have been spicy, tangy and fairly refreshing.
For starters we ordered the Jaipur child aloo which have been child potatoes marinated twice in spices and cooked 3 times (boiled, fried then fried once more). They have been deliciously delicate and creamy with a crispy exterior, served with a scrumptious cooling dip.
The paneer tikka Bengali fashion was one of the memorable dishes of the night. Three slices of paneer have been marinated then cooked in panch puran, a well-liked Bengali combine of 5 spices, served alongside a tangy spicy tomato chutney.
We liked the flavours of the Sunday lamb with tamarind and tea, slow-cooked boneless items of lamb in a creamy tangy sauce. This was positively one other spotlight of the meal.
The ever present dal makhani options on menus of hottest Indian eating places and Colonel Saab’s model actually didn’t disappoint. Sluggish cooked complete black lentils in a wealthy and really buttery sauce was deliciously thick and creamy with that important smoked flavour.
Butter rooster was good however by then we had too many dishes in sauces and it didn’t actually stand out over the others.
The mains have been accompanied by a serving of fluffy basmati rice and a bread basket consisting of a really moreish missi roti constituted of chickpea flour and spices, tandoori roti and naan.
Atul introduced some crispy fried kale in a spiced batter to attempt, it was completely scrumptious and ought to be showing on the menu within the close to future, if it hasn’t, do ask about it.
For dessert we had a wealthy and creamy rasmalai milk cake and freshly made gulab jamun with a scoop of ice cream adopted by masala tea.
Head chef Sohan Bhandari’s signature rasmalai milk cake was a slice of sponge cake lined in a layer of cardamon cream, topped with small ladoo items and served in a dish of rasmalai milk sauce. It was wealthy, thick and creamy, and an exquisite solution to end the meal.
The restaurant is open for all day eating and we hope to return very quickly to attempt their dosas and tiffin containers for lunch.
Colonel Saab
Holborn City Corridor,
193-197 Excessive Holborn,
London, WC1V 7BD
Contact: 020 8016 6800
reservations@colonelsaab.co.uk
Opening instances:
Monday to Saturday
Bar: 12noon — 12:30am
Lunch: 12noon — 3pm
Dinner: 6pm — 10.30pm
