Chutney Mary St James

Chutney Mary was originally in Chelsea (opening in 1990) but moved to St James’s Street in 2015. Camellia Panjabi had worked for Taj Hotels and had launched the Bombay Brasserie. Her sister Namita Panjabi and her husband Ranjit Mathrani were the founders, with Camellia joining the business later. Sister restaurants in the same group include Amaya, Veeraswamy and Masala Zone. The current restaurant is large and smartly decorated, seating up to 110 diners at any one time. The menu is a la carte with a three-course set lunch menu available at £45. There was also a seven-course tasting menu at £95. The head chef at present is Aditya Nayak, who has been running the kitchen since 2020, and who started his career with Taj Hotels.

The wine list is not on the website but includes selections such as Deakin Estate Chardonnay 2025 at £45 for a bottle that you can find in the high street for £12, Eva Fricke Riesling 2024 at £75 compared to its retail price of £24, and Chateau Ksara 2019 (from Lebanon) at £82 for a wine that will set you back £24 in the high street. For those with the means there was Antinori Tignanello 2022 at £370 compared to its retail price of £149, and the excellent Vina Tondonia Lopez de Heredia 2004 at a £385 for a wine whose current market value is £200 for this mature vintage. 

After some good poppadoms and pickles we tried three starters. A pair of baked venison samosas (£18) were each shaped into a cone and had an enjoyable, lightly spiced filling (13/20). Scallops in Mangalorean sauce (£21) were served with a coconut-based sauce from Karnataka that involved coriander, cumin, tamarind, fresh coconut and roasted red chillies. The sauce was very good, the scallops themselves being cooked quite well, though a little of the side muscle was still attached to the one that I ate (13/20). Tokri chaat (£17.50) was my favourite of the starters. This was a string potato basket (tokri means basket) filled with assorted elements including boiled chickpeas and mixed chutneys. The textural balance was very good, and there was a hint of tart sweetness from a tamarind chutney (14/20).

Tandoori lamb chops (four for £48) were nicely cooked, still with some pink in the middle, and had nicely absorbed their marinade, served with a mint chutney on the side (14/20). Butter chicken (£33.50) was suitably rich, the chicken tikka pieces tender (14/20). Kid gosht biryani (£38) had lamb cooked with saffron and herbs. The rice was fragrant and the lamb pieces avoided dryness. The biryani was sealed in a cast-iron pot with a banana leaf rather than the traditional pastry seal to keep the aromas in before the seal was opened (14/20).

On the side, Malabar new potatoes (£8) were good, retaining their texture well, the potatoes nicely absorbing the flavours they were initially cooked with, which I think included turmeric, chilli and vinegar, the potatoes then being pan-fried with shallots, ginger and curry leaves (14/20). We tried a plain naan (£7.75) and also a Comte naan (£8.75), which were both capably made and had reasonable texture. Much as I like both naan and Comte cheese, I am not quite convinced that they belong together (13/20). 

For dessert, I tasted three different dishes (all were priced at £12). Indian lime tart used a variety of lime called gondhoraj, a fragrant oblong lime that grows in Bengal, served with clotted cream ice cream. The pastry was good and the lime worked well, its fragrance coming through nicely, and its tartness pairing well with the ice cream (14/20). English strawberry sorbet was steeped in vanilla and chilli and I thought worked very nicely, the chilli being very gentle (14/20). Persian kulfi featured saffron and pistachio and rose chikki, a brittle made from nuts and jaggery. This was very pretty and had plenty of saffron flavour, the texture being smooth (14/20).

Service was excellent throughout the meal. I was being taken here by an old friend so didn’t see a bill, but if you ordered three courses a la carte and shared a modest bottle of wine then a typical price per person might be around £120. You could reduce this by eating from the £45 set lunch menu. Chutney Mary is a historically important London restaurant and offers capable cooking in a smart setting. The main quibble would be the price, there being quite a wide selection of high-end Indian restaurants to choose from in London these days.

Further reviews: 21st Jul 2015