Rasoi Vineet Bhatia

[RickBehl]

Ok, thanks, I guess I have been pointed to the correct place !

[DJOblong]

Hi All

I went to RVB late last year and had a fantastic meal.

My mother grew up in fiji eating curries and is visting here soon. I wanted to take her to try thisholy grail of Indian cuisine and wondered whether anyone has been recently can tell me whether the menu has changed since 6 months ago?

I am obviously keen to try more of Mr Bhatia's dishes but I'm sure I'll go again even if the menu is the same...

Cheers

[DJOblong]

Well It hasn't - just booked and asked the booking staff member. Does anyone else find that a bit odd? I guess it's difficult to change in their first year.

[Andy Lynes]

Yes I do, especially as the website says "As Vineet is regularly including some new creations it becomes difficult to give an accurate list of the dishes on the menu". I'm sure the menu will have changed by now, I'd be amazed if it hadn't.

[DJOblong]

Well I am going again this Tuesday night Andy so I'll let you know. The person who answered the phone told me it hadn't changed. My wife is also pregnant so it will be interesting to see what they adapt for the shellfish dishes - 3 out of the 9 on the tasting menu involve shellfish.

[DJOblong]

Well it was again excellent food, although exactly the same menu. The head waiter (who is bordering on over enthusiastic, but very sweet) mentioned they will be bringing out maybe 3 or 4 new dishes to the Rasoi Gourmand (degustation) menu in the next few weeks. My wife had the vegetarian option which was sadly a little bland and one too many dishes were based predominatly on rice (kinda repetitive and filling in a 9-course meal).

I'll be keen to try the new dishes in the coming months.

It looked like the restaurant was really full for a Tuesday night too. Hopefully RVB will continue to go from strength to strength.

[wgallois]

Great meal at RVB last night, which had almost all of the positives found in the reviews above, and none of the negatives (the jaw-dropping bill aside... though it's worth it). The restaurant was full and the service was really excellent: attentive and pleasant without ever being cloying, always anticipating your needs, wine and (tap) water poured just when it was needed, and nice spacing between the courses.

Becky and I both had the nine-course vegetarian tasting menu, which went as follows:

1. Popadoms to start - Very salty with three good dips, the best of which is the minty one.

2. Watermelon and ginger shot - I found it a bit bland, but Becky, who has a better palate, felt it wasn't and that it was a good palate-cleanser.

3. Tandoori broccoli with cuchumber: just great; one of those dishes that I have no idea how it was made, but lots to relish in the combination of the spicing and the heat with the firm broccoli. A dish which really made me disagree with Terence Conran's comments cited in the first post of this thread, where he said that he'd prefer simpler dishes with high-quality ingredients which spoke for themselves. The point about this kind of food is that it is complex and all about intricate combinations of good ingredients and clever spicing.

4. Wild mushroom Khichdi, mini papad and makhani ice cream: it's all been said on this thread already, and I find it interesting to note that this and other vegetarian dishes have become some of those for which the restaurant has become best known. The vegetarian menus are by no means second-best choices, as seems right in an Indian restaurant.

5. Spicy lentil soup with vegetable bonda: one of many plays on classic dishes which is more than subtly different to the original dish.

6. Tandoori paneer, masala paneer carpaccio and goat's cheese Khichdi: just one of the best dishes we had ever had. So satisfying you could imagine eating it day after day and always craving it. The combination of the textures and flavours of the cheeses is great: the Khidchi is creamily moreish, the carpaccio akin to halloumi in its crispiness, and the soft masala paneer is set off by an onion chutney.

7. Crispy onions with masala mash: an ideal snack after a hard night on lager I felt, though I can't imagine we'll see Vineet's Van on the King's Road anytime soon offering this combo of mash 'n' onion rings.

8. Goat's cheese and smoked cashew nut samosa with pear and clove chutney: wonderfully unusal chutney with plenty of heat generated by the cloves. One of the best aspects of the meal for us was that many dishes had plenty of heat, and that the rethinking of Indian food didn't include a toning down of the heat or the spicing.

9. Roasted potatoes filled with masala paneer, corn and pine kernels, coconut and kokum sauce and stir-fried beetroot rice: we were too full by this stage to truly enjoy this dish (the 7 course option at £49 suddenly seemed a better idea than 9 at £58), though I have good memories of the combination of flavours.

10. Chilled mango and cumin lassi, coconut ice cream: really enjoyable and, as Matthew said, salty!

11. Crispy marbled chocolate, chenna [another kind of panneer I believe] and roasted almond samosa, Indian tea ice cream: really satisfying, and I managed to regain some appetite to polish it off. I thought it tasted a bit like a sachertorte samosa; went very well with the ice cream.

We took a set of menus away and I certainly hope to return for lunch some time. There are clearly a wide number of dishes available across a series of tasting, lunch and dinner menus.

[tony h]

Quite a few friends and colleagues have urged me to try Rasio Vineet Bhatia but I’ve always shied away as I have little love for Indian cuisine. I had too much exposure as a student (many, many years ago) plus I’ve found that the cuisine that developed in England is quite different to the tastes & spices of the one that evolved in my homeland Scotland. When I moved down here I just didn’t like the taste of curries and stopped going.

So off went to see thought the end of miserable January with thoughts of spicy delicacies on this seriously cold winter’s night. It was 7pm & were go the booking on the strict understanding that we had to be out by 9.30. The place was virtually empty – only 2 other tables occupied.

A plate of baby popadums arrived with three sauces: mint & coriander, mango chutney and spicy tomato relish. All lovely although the mango just a little too sweet & sticky for my liking.

We chose the 7 course tasting menu – I was worried that the 9 course menu would kill us as my days of being to over stuff myself with curry have long since gone. The hard part: wine or beer? After looking at the wine list I was think that perhaps all we could do is afford the beer. Also – it would take quite a strong spicy wine to stand-up to curry. Anyway – we chose a Pully Fume & Pinot Noir.

So – pre-starters arrive – lovely small ball of deep fried cheese with stunning hot spicy pineapple soup. Very refreshing and palate cleansing. A very god start.

First was a lovely plump scallop on a bed of tiny yellow split pea and mashed potato. Absolutely superb – I thought my scallop a little rubbery but not enough to prevent my enjoyment.

Next was a small mound of finely diced mushrooms (why type, dunno) mixed in with fine dice of rice. On top sat some spicy tomato ice cream sat on a mini popadum so it didn’t melt. A very good combination of hot and cold, spicy & meatiness of the mushrooms. One of the better dishes of the evening.

Next was small spicy fish soup with ball of deep fried crab. Ok but a little forgettable.

The fourth course was a broccoli risotto on top which sat lobster tail and claw. This was surrounded by tomato & lobster sauce. The risotto had a few large chunks of lobster meat. To stop the risotto being squashed by the weight of the meat thin disks of broccoli stem were used to spread the weight. Coco powder dusting on top. Visually stunning.

This is where my unfamiliarity or lack of spice vocabulary started to become a problem – it all seemed to be “spicy” but couldn’t tell what spice was what. The lobster was lovely but tasted of spice – what spice? – “generic” spice. Thankfully not hot/chilli – but a bit of coriander seed, cumin, garam masala, ? were they all there, anything else? – dunno. The next dish was quail breast with tamarind and yogurt and the cutest little naan breads – but it all became a single taste: spice but this one a little tangier than another. The final dish was lamb korma with steam rice cakes. The rice cakes were truly offensive and the curry – well – could have done without it; it added nothing to the meal – was it the same sauce served with other dishes – could have been, looked the same colour. Very oddly, they added some truffle slices & truffle oil to the dish – just complete nonsense, really. Dessert was chocolate samosa with cardamom (I think) ice cream. Good ice cream.

The other thing than happened was that held was though the meal the table next to us was filled with 4 chelsea locals who talked loudly about nothing in particular. One story forced on us was of a recent holiday to the far east that had Ruby Wax at the same resort (gosh - these people were actually impressed by ruby wax!) I also learned that goldeneye is the best playstation game & this opinion was defended quite vigorously by the vacuous loud young man.

We did ask, discreetly, to be moved as the restaurant was still 2/3 empty but our requests was refused. We were told that all the tables were booked but they were still unoccupied when we left 1/2 hour later. Very poor show on their part we thought. ‘suppose, that’s the problem of eating in Chelsea – its full of chelsea-ites.

Anyway – summing up – started out really well but as the spice novelty worn off I got fairly bored with the seeming repetitiveness of the food. I like the idea of “haute Indian”, not sure this is place that’s going to deliver it. Michelin star, my arse.