Rasoi

If you know food, you know that winning a Michelin star is a really, really big deal. It's an even bigger deal for Rasoi's proprietor, Vineet Bhatia (pictured left), as he is the first Indian chef to earn that award (actually he's won it twice). Given that Indian cooking occupies a place in British cuisine as central as Italian cooking occupies in American cuisine, that's saying something.

If Vinheet Bhatia appears to be a confident guy, it is because he is, and his cooking clearly shows it. Our dinner Thursday night was an extremely ambitious undertaking with many, many different flavors and textures within a single dish.

It was also, however, a very complicated one and only a chef of Bhatia's ability and experience could have pulled it off as well as he did. That said, our meal wasn't perfect and for a Michelin star operation it was frankly a little disappointing.

Probably the best way to think about it was that Bhatia was trying to juggle a torch, an apple, and a whirling chainsaw. He dropped the apple, but a lesser chef might have dropped the torch, or even the chainsaw - with disastrous results.

Now, you might ask why anyone would want to try to juggle a torch, and apple, and a whirling chainsaw. There really isn't a good answer to that question, other than because you think you can and want to show everyone just how talented you are, even if you are taking a monumental risk in the process.

To start, my wife started with the "street food chaats" which was a series of four chaats; achari (a flavor made from coriander, chili, fennel, cuman, and several other things), spinah tikki, warm potato and pomegranate, and dahi bhalla (yogurt, cuman, chili powder, salt, ginger, and few other things). For the uninitiated, a chaat is a savory bit of cooked dough mixed with other ingredients that comes from northeast India but which is now very popular throughout India and Pakistan).

I had the mixed Kabob selection, which was a very interesting medley of different grilled meats and fish (salmon, lamb, chicken, quail, and prawn, i.e. shrimp). We split our appetizers in half, so that we'd each have a full taste of both plates.

I thought my appetizer was outstanding, especially the tandori grilled salmon. The balance of flavors was outstanding as was the preparation. My wife also enjoyed my appetizer.

We both thought there were a couple of issues, however, with her appetizer. First, it was a bit too salty. Second, the chaats came in a sequence on the plate, which seemed to suggest that they be eaten sequentially. Either we misinterpreted the presentation or Rasoi poorly ordered them, because eating them in the sequence did not lead to a particular good balance of flavors and textures. Frankly, it was disappointing, especially for the price (see below).

For dinner, I had the charcoal roasted lamb chops, braised in a caramelized onion and lime infused sauce, served with roasted peanut khichdi and a lime lamb samosa. I thought my dinner was very, very good, both reasonably portioned and a good balance of different flavors and textures. My wife liked it, but not as much as I did.

My wife had the matka chicken, which was tandori chicken served with chili rice and black lentils. She really liked her dinner, as did I, though not as much as she.

We also had a side order of three different nan, two of which were excellent.

One note, while Rasoi is definitely Indian cuisine, it is not classic Indian cooking, but rather Bhatia's more modern taken on classic flavors and techniques.

Rasoi is tucked away in a row house on a posh (British for "rich" or "upscale") residential side street off the King's Road (in fact, it looks like just another house and you have to knock on the door to be admitted). The picture doesn't really give you a good idea of the fit out, which is plush, in the extreme (so much so that my wife invoked Coco Chanel's warning about over-accessorizing). In some ways it was evocative of the cooking; rich, but a little too much.

One final word, Rasoi was very expensive. Our dinner (no desert or wine, but 2 beers each) came to just under 163 pounds (about $260-65); clearly a premium for those Michelin stars!

Still, I am glad we went to Rasoi. It is not every day that you get to go to a famous restaurant and eat really good food cooked by a renown chef.

Here is the link to Rasoi's website - http://www.rasoi-uk.com/