trishna

it’s easy to picture a stereotypical plate of “fine dining” food - diddily dimensioned and precisely plated to within a millimetre of its life. one of the reasons why i loveindiannosh is because it’s normally the exact opposite. there’s nothing quite like getting stuck into a hearty bowl of curry mopped up with a fistful of naan. trishna, a michelin starredindianrestaurant located in marylebone, finds itself caught between these two camps. at it’s best, theirindianfood is immense; expertly spiced and skilfully cooked. however, it’s let down by some poncey portions and mildly annoying service. a couple of examples of my gripes with the service: - having a set lunch menu offering between 2-5 dishes per person and then being given the raised eyebrow treatment by the waiter when you try to order more than 3 seems a bit odd. it also does nothing for my insecurities about the size of my appetite… - waiting for your glass to be topped up with water (as the jug is squirreled away somewhe

went to thisindianrestaurant in the middle of london closer to oxford street. must say the food is good and service staff is also good. loved there allu tokri chat.
nice clean presentation , good serving size and quality food.

this place rightly deserves a 5 star for its awesome food and great service.

ordered biryani and dal along with breads few days back. the food was served hot and on time.

ambience was also great. a niceindianrestaurant in london. they also serve southindianfood which is to die for.
must visit this place.

ambience-3/5
food-3/5
service-3/5

one of the goodindianrestaurant in the heart of london. the ambience was good with old photos about india hanging on the walls. the staff were warm and courteous. for starters ordered the veg sheek kebab which was very soft as expected. the mint chutney added to the taste. they had served some aplams, papad and sabudana chips which were good with the tamarind chutney. for the drinks ordered the litchi with mint and mix of some more fruits. it tasted tangy but the glass had more of ice cubes and less of juice. main course was simple with paneer chettinad and hyderabadi yellow dal with garlic naan. the paneer chettinad was one of the best i have had in recent memory. the dal was just about okay. the naan were crisp the way i wanted. overall a very good experience.

before there was 2016 critics’ favourite hoppers, there was its culinary daddy, trishna. the sethi family are legends in london, their magic touch extending from michelin-starred trishna and gymkhana through to lyle’s and street food turned bricks and mortar bao. their first love though isindianfood. due to its (brenty?) wave of immigration from theindiansubcontinent, britain has been blessed by a profusion of restaurants serving pakistani/indian/bangladeshi food. you can still see the legacy of these restauranteurs trying to cater to the british palates of old by the appearance of dishes like prawn cocktail on curry house menus.

trishna is the big sister restaurant of gymkhana, under the same ownership. while gymkhana gets more of the plaudits these days, probably because of its location and trendier decor, trishna draws in theindianfamilies. you know that anindianrestaurant is authentic when there are plenty ofindianfamilies dining there. after all, you wouldn’t dine out at a restaurant which makes mediocre curries that your mom can make better at home. the slight difference with the two restaurants is that gymkhana focuses more on meat and game, while trishna specialises in seafood dishes.

i love the concept of seafood andindianfood but our favourite dishes at trishna were similar to the ones they have at gymkhana, but i prefer the gymkhana versions as well as the vibe there better. the service was very weak on the night that we were there, though to be fair, our waiter was very knowledgeable and helpful. however we struggled to get his attention and waited for a very long time between ordering drinks to order the food. maybe they were under staffed or perhaps service was slower because there was a large party of around fifteen people dining there on that evening. the lamb chops are a must! delicious.

trishna is one of few halalindianmichelin stared restaurants in london and has been on my list for a long time. they offer a decent lunch bites menu, where 2 dishes £19 per person, 3 for £24, 4 for £29 and 5 for £34. i ordered a total of 6 dishes which are the following, plus lamb chops from the la carte menu for £18.

starters
paneer tikka anardana [fried onion, mint, corn & pomegranate chat] punjabi vegetable samosa chat [chickpea masala, tamarind, sweet yoghurt]

mains
andhra lamb masala [curry leaf, coastal spices] moplah seafood biryani [seabass, shellfish, coriander, pink peppercorn raita] sides
bread basket, basmati rice, hyderabadi dal and wild mustard potatoes
desserts
gajar halwa [heritage carrot pudding, masala chai kulfi, cake] cardamom kheer [fig, raisin, pistachio, cardamom]

first of all, there was a lot of food and the portions where great, i was very pleased with the amount of food that arrived, i was very well fed and stuffed after lunch. i have to say i was expecting more for a michelin stared restaurant, apart from the lamb chops nothing stood out or really made an impression. the lamb chops where very thick and very good, cooked well and burnt on the outside not dry, and very juicy and moist inside infused with a tandoori flavour a very good piece of meat here.
the paneer was underwhelming but the samosa chaat was light, well textured and good start. the lamb curry was bland and uninspiring, the seafood biryani was cooked well but nothing outstanding.

for dessert, i rounded a nice meal off with a well made kheer with kufi, served cold just how i like it.

venue wise, the space is small and similar to a cafe in shoreditch, i was expecting better from the decor and the service was rather average for a one star michelin. booking was required and we were shown to out table at 1.45pm straight away. i just felt the staff where slight unattentive. each meal was introduced when brought to the table as standard by a restaurant with a michelin star.

the total bill was under £70 which is very good considering it is a michelin starred restaurant. however, after leaving i noticed that they charged me for 2 dishes per person and not 3, so result! all in all, i think the lunch bites menu was great value and food was filling.

i like trishna, the price is very reasonable even without the offer and both the service and the cooking is a massive step up to your localindiancurry joint. the real question for me is... does it live up to a michelin star, that i am not too sure as it is hard to compare asian to european cuisine.

a revitalized and re-energized new avatar for gymkhana's older sister. the food has discovered its personality, new found courage and conviction in solid cooking and spice - i say this, having visited a few years ago and finding the food dull beyond belief. highlights from what we ate - telicherry pepper squid, kohlapuri jheenga, tandoori lamb chops, guinea fowl biriyani, cardamom kheer. everything else was absolutely fine as well but these were significantly fantastic. wine list very good value and variety to be found. chilli vodka cocktail - fantastic. 1/2 a point off for service - while staff was friendly and knowledgeable, i spent a fair amount of time struggling to just catch their eye. the room is long and perhaps narrow for the seating, perhaps that's why? anyhow, trishna has rediscovered itself this year, and we are all the luckier for that. and for all other aspiringindianchefs and restaurateurs out there - cook it, with conviction, and they will come...

trishna is a michelin star restaurant serving deliciousindianfood. they do a variety of set menus – you can choose from tasting menu, express lunch, five course veg, five course non-veg, seven course veg, seven course non-veg, and so many more you end up spending forever studying the menus. we got a bit overwhelmed and decided to order from the a la carte menu instead.

we finished ordering from the a la carte menu. the waiter paused for a few seconds, and picked out one of the menus from the table and pointed at it. as it turned out, our orders were very similar to the express lunch menu, so it made sense to go with that instead. we also ordered an extra eggplant dish that we really wanted to try, and a bread basket (because the express lunch menu comes with rice, not bread)

the express lunch menu was just under £20 per person (£17 + service charge) – you get starter, main, dal, and basmati rice. it also comes with a glass of wine, which we swapped for coca cola.

trishna is not a fine dining restaurant, but it’s not a cheap and cheerful curry house either. they do delicious food and good service – great atmosphere, and just the right amount of formal-feel. we liked it a lot.

westindianrestaurant at the heart of marylebone. very nice atmosphere! food is really really good. just be careful if you are not into spicy food, since some of the dishes can be very spicy such as the mushroom basmati rice, that comes with a really good yogurt sauce to sooth it, or the broccoli samosas. the tandoori lamb chops are delicious as well as the tandoori baby chicken with lemon.

the food was really very good, it wasn't conventional indian, but they had taken the flavours from theindiancuisine and fused them with european tastes. it's that which sets them apart.

the service was great, ambience average, and staff friendly. all in all a decent good experience with very good food.

the halal: the chicken and lamb are halal. the restaurant specialises in seafood so there are lots of options. please note that pork and alcohol are served.

the place: situated in quaint marylebone village, trishna is not your average curry house! it was awarded a michelin star in 2012 and once you’ve tasted the food it is evident why. the restaurant has a peaceful ambience with whitewashed walls and bronze poles hang vintageindianprints. the furniture is decadent rosewood and the service is fit for a maharaja.

the food: trishna has a variety of menus to choose from. we were there for lunch and ordered from the ‘lunch bites’ menu on this occasion.

we began our meal with yummy mocktails (virgin mojito, tropical punch and mango lassi) and poppadoms and chutney.

next we embarked on starters. we ordered the trishna seafood salad with haldi chipirones, scallops, tiger prawns and samphire. each bite was refined and delectable and the amount of seafood on the plate was very generous!

the paneer tikka looked like a piece of art but could have done with a tad more seasoning- the taste did not really match the appearance.

the haryali bream is a favourite of mine. the fish melts in your mouth with flavours of chilli and coriander that are complemented by the smoked tomato kachumber (salsa).

the starters were excellent and our expectations were high for the main courses. i ordered the tandoori lemon baby chicken which came as a leg piece cooked to perfection next to a bed of crunchy pressed rice. the textures of the dish were wonderful.

the andhra curry was made of succulent lamb but wasn’t extraordinary. what was really special was the kerala jheenga (prawn) curry. the tiger prawns were big and juicy and the sauce was extremely moreish- i just couldn’t get enough!

the mains were accompanied with rice, naan, hyderabadi daal and a dry potato curry. these were all cooked well and pretty tasty.

although we were completely stuffed we could not resist trying the tempting desserts. the aam malai dish was a mango cream slice served with fresh mangoes and a raw mango chutney. the cream was deeply rich and delicious. the chutney served in a shot glass had a bit of a kick- i couldn’t finish the whole thing.

i also tried the strawberry falooda which is a dish of strawberry ice cream on a bed of vermicelli and fresh strawberries. you pour over a masala milk flavoured with cardamoms. this was a great palate cleanser and quite different to the traditional falooda dessert.

a rather nice surprise at the end of the meal were white chocolates flavoured with paan -anindianbetel nut tobacco flavouring which is eaten after meals. i would go back just to have this again!

the price: for the quality of food and ambience, i think trishna is priced reasonably. the tasting menus are between £50-70 per person and the lunch bites menu is between £18.50-33.50 per person depending on how many courses you order.

the verdict: the food at trishna was excellent- as far as michelin-starredindianrestaurants go, this one is definitely my favourite! it’s a shame that the game is not halal because some of the dishes looked really interesting. the lunch menu is particularly good value for money and my mum who is always critical aboutindianrestaurant food (because she is an amazing cook herself) loved it so i will definitely be going back! i also can’t wait to try their new sister restaurant gymkhana in mayfair.

superb food and hospitality.
quality is what you'll get here!!
authenticindiantaste...