Koyal

I have written previously about the background of Koyal and its talented head chef, Nand Kishor. At this meal we pre-ordered the Arnaud Tauzin chicken, and supplemented this with a few other dishes.

Tandoori lamb chops were excellent, the lamb chops generous in size and cooked pink, covered in a lovely sauce. The chops had been marinated in Greek yoghurt along with garam masala and Kashmiri chilli, and were served with a lime and jaggery chutney (16/20). The version of bhajias that they make at Koyal is called “hara pyaaz, aloo and palak ke bhajiye”, is a major step up from those we are used to in tandoori restaurants. This has fritters made with spinach, spring onion and potato, fried until crisp and served with hari chutney. These have terrific flavour (16/20).

I had pre-ordered the Arnaud Tauzin chicken from the Landes region of France, arguably the best chicken in the world. This was made into several dishes. For starters, we had chicken tikka, malai tikka and chicken lollipops. The flavour of the Tauzin chicken, combined with the gentle spices, is quite something.

For the main course we had methi chicken made with the Tauzin chicken, which was glorious. We also had an excellent muntjac biryani, which appeared in a pot sealed with a pastry case to contain the cooking aromas. This casing is cut into and removed at the table. The basmati rice was beautifully fragrant, the venison pieces having very good flavour, lightly enlivened with spices (easily 16/20). The final main course was wild boar vindaloo, a variation on the South Indian classic of pork vindaloo. Wild boar has better flavour than regular pork, and so this curry was a joy: it had a dark, rich sauce enhanced by red chilli and Goan spices, the toddy vinegar balancing the richness, while the boar flavour was lovely (17/20). On the side, mustard potatoes retained their texture very well, with just a hint of spice from the wild Himalayan mustard (16/20).  Breads, bot garlic naan and paratha, were also very good, the naan soft and supple.

The bill came to £92 per person with beer to drink and plenty of food left over to take away. If you didn’t order the special chicken, then a more typical cost per person might be around £60. The food here is superb, and even more so if you take advantage of the high-quality French chicken. Even leaving this aside, not one restaurant in London is serving better Indian food than at Koyal.

Further reviews: 10th Nov 2025 | 18th Sep 2025 | 12th Aug 2025 | 02nd Mar 2025 | 27th Dec 2024 | 06th Dec 2024 | 06th Oct 2024