1 Corbet Court, 3 – 6 Gracechurch Street, London, EC3V 0AT www.bangaloreuk.com
It’s glossy, colourful and reminds me of a menu design from a 1980s motorway service station, it has look and feel of one that’s been created to take a lot of handling from a lot of customers over a long period of time.
And it has one heck of a range of dishes on it from all over the subcontinent as well as mysterious fusion dishes too plus things from South Africa and China
It’s the creation of chef Yogesh Datta who learnt his skills at Taj Group and Sheraton Hotels in India, a training many a top Indian chef has benefitted from, and which explains the variety of the menu. Hotel chefs out there have to really cover all bases to keep customers happy
He owns The Painted Heron in Chelsea, a properly good Indian restaurant and’Best Indian Establishment’ at The Food Awards London 2016, and he certainly knows his stuff. And it seems people know him; the number of Asian families with children eating tonight suggests people come from outside the Square Mile to get their fix of his feasting-style menus.
We downed some pretty good cocktails upstairs; I had two espresso martinis, the middle class version of Red Bull and vodka, and was overly caffeine-fuelled on my descent down the stairs.
It helped fuel me through that menu, a bewildering cornucopia of things: Anglo Indian Fish & Chilli Chips, South African Bunny Chow, Caribbean Curried Goat with Rice, Plantain Chips and Sweet Potatoes for example
Not floating your boat? Well how about the Dosa selection or the Thalis or Asian Seabass Nilgiri Curry and Duck Breast with Hot & Sour Pumpkin Curry? Or even build your own “Curry Plate Matrixâ€Â? It’s head spinning.
Another dish, of the many that I wasn’t familiar with, was Sri Lankan chopped roti bread with spicy lamb and egg curry hotchpotch. This was indeed a real textural hotchpotch as described, but I really liked it while considering that perhaps eggs and a curry sauce were not a recipe for a silent night. Again, well presented, with poppadum waving like a flag in the middle and a bowl of cucumber raita to add a refreshing note.
Bangalore Express City is certainly an interesting place; my initial reservations about the hotel-style menu were sent packing by the presentation and the flavours. There’s certainly a lot to explore on the menu, so well worth a return visit I’d say.