Jamavar London

Jamavar is part of the group of restaurants owned by Samyutka Nair and her father, who founded the Leela Hotel group, which was sold in 2019 to an asset management group. Sister restaurants in London include Koyn, Mimi Mei Fair, Socca and Bombay Bustle. It is located just off Berkeley Square, its smartly decorated dining room spread over two floors. The kitchen is presided over by Surender Mohan since 2018. Mr Mohan was previously executive chef of the Leela group in India, and cooked at Leela Bangalore in particular.

There was a tasting menu at £105, but we went a la carte. There was also a £49 three-course lunch menu available. As well as beer there was a quite extensive wine list, including a good variety of wines by the glass, using the Coravin system. The wine list had 176 labels and ranged in price from £51 to £1,850, with a median price of £116 and an average markup to retail price of 4.1 times, which is high even by the demanding standards of Mayfair. Sample references were Cantina Tramin Pinot Bianco 2022 at £60 for a bottle that you can find in the high street for £18, De Loach Chardonnay 2020 at £85 compared to its retail price of £21, and Château Roumieu 2019 at £95 for a wine that will set you back £32 in the high street. For those with the means there was Château Ducru-Beaucaillou 2ème Grand Cru 1999 at £432 compared to its retail price of £228, and Marchesi Antinori Guado Al Tasso 2018 at £450 for a wine whose current market value is £125.

Chandni chowk ki aloo tikki (£16) had a fried potato cutlet with yoghurt, spiced white peas, and tamarind and mint chutneys. The dish is named after a street in Delhi noted for its street food vendors and its market. The dish had a lovely balance of textures and flavours, with the sweet and sour of the tamarind (15/20). Chettinad chicken croquettes (£17) had spiced chicken mince, a tomato and coconut chutney and a salad of cucumber and dill. These were very enjoyable, the outside crisp and the filling having a lively mix of vibrant spices (16/20). 

Classic chicken tikka (£24) had chicken pieces marinated with spiced before being cooked in the heat of the tandoor. The resulting meat was very tender and had a well-judged blend of spices. This was served with a particular good side salad of pickled radish and yoghurt (16/20). Malai stone bass tikka (£27) had fillets of fish marinated with green cardamom and mace and served with an avocado and mint chutney. This is perhaps my favourite dish here, the slightly meaty stone bass having enough flavour to comfortably absorb the marinade, the flesh tender and beautifully spiced (17/20).

Kairee jhinga (£30) had large spiced prawns marinated with chilli, coriander & mango pachadi (raw mango cooked in jaggery with tempered spices) before being cooked in the tandoor. The prawns were tender and had absorbed the flavours of the marinade nicely, the overall flavour effect being lovely (16/20). Adraki lamb chops (£53) had large lamb chops marinated with royal cumin, fennel and ginger (which is “adraki”) and served with carrot salad. These days there are a few places in London doing high class tandoori lamb chops, but the version here is as good as any, the lamb pink as it should be, the meat tender and the spicing lovely (17/20).

Lamb biryani (£36) used Hampshire lamb, cooked with basmati rice, onions and spices in a pan sealed with a pasty lid. This concentrates the cooking aromas, and these are released when you cut it open at the table. Hyderabad and Kolkata are the places in India best known for biryani, and you can see the process of making it in some detail in my review of the restaurant Adaa at the Falaknuma Palace in Hyderabad, complete with step by step photographs of the cooking process. The Jamavar version is very good, with tender lamb and aromatic rice (15/20). 

Malvani prawn curry (£32) is a regional dish of southern India. Malvani cuisine is that of the coastal Konkan region that overlaps Goa to the south and Maharashtra to the north. The distinguishing feature is a particular spice mix from this area typically combining a dozen or more spices including as cumin, turmeric and fenugreek. A key to the version here is quality of the prawns, far from the small, cheap prawns that all too often turn up in Indian restaurants. The prawns here were large with plenty of natural sweetness, carefully cooked and having nicely absorbed the complex blend of spices with which they were cooked (15/20).

Butter chicken (£32) was a fine rendition of the classic dish, whose originals go back to the Moti Mahal restaurant, which relocated to Delhi from Peshawar in 1947. The exact origins of the dish are disputed, and there was even a lawsuit over it between the families of the two employees of the Moti Mahal that claimed to have been the originators of the dish. Anyway, the version at Jamavar is right up there with the best I have had, using corn-fed Suffolk chicken, fresh tomato and fenugreek along with the usual cumin, garlic, chilli and garam masala. The version here is not wildly buttery as some versions can be, so you still get plenty of chicken flavour amongst the admittedly rich sauce (16/20). 

Jamavar dal (£12) is the classic Punjabi black dhal cooked slowly overnight, simmered in a tandoor. This dish is made with black lentils and kidney beans and a variety of spices including ginger and chilli, finished with a little butter and cream to achieve a creamier texture. The ideal version should have a quite thick texture and the version here is a fine example, a classic makhani dhal (16/20). Jeera aloo (£11) had little potato spheres that were flavoured with cumin. The potatoes had retained their texture and avoided the overcooking that happens all too often with this dish. The slightly nutty hint of cumin lifted the flavour nicely (15/20). Bhindi avoided the soggy okra that is the curse of this dish in most restaurants, the okra retaining a hint of firmness in the texture and working well with the spices it was fried with (15/20). A mixed basket of Indian breads was very good, with naan, roti etc all served piping hot, their texture soft and pliable.

Jamavar is a popular restaurant and usually does a couple of hundred covers in the evening and around a hundred at lunch, day in, day out. The service was friendly and professional even on this busy evening. I was being treated to this meal with friends and didn't see a bill, but a typical cost per person might be around £95 or so.

Further reviews: 18th Jul 2022 | 30th Nov 2021 | 07th Aug 2021 | 06th Aug 2019 | 04th Aug 2018 | 24th Oct 2017 | 24th Feb 2017 | 09th Dec 2016