Surprise Surprise!

I got home from football yesterday evening with the intention to cook celeriac and potato cakes (with pancetta and gruyere).  These never materialized.  In fact, no cooking at all happened, but this was due to the fact that I got taken out for a surprise dinner!  

It is my birthday tomorrow, and what with my rapidly evolving years approaching 38 I try to partition this joyous occasion to the back reaches of the cerebral cortex.  I can remember the days when the prospect of a birthday party (complete with those spiral-shaped salt and vinegar flavour crisps and pineapple/cheese on spiky cocktail sticks) was anticipated with much aplomb.

Due to my partners indiscreet aversion to curry these days, we rarely eat anything of an Indian nature together.  The gestation of our little Kasper brought with it a rather unpleasant little side-effect.  My partner cannot abide the smell of anything curry-like.

I arrived home last night and discovered that we were going out for dinner!  The location of our soiree though, remained a mystery.  

A couple of hours later I found myself in swanky Knightsbridge, sitting at a table in Amaya - the proud recipient of a hallowed Michelin star.  The heady fug of curry leaf and cardamom did little to camouflage the reality that we were, indeed sitting together in an Indian restaurant.

Our arrival was met at the welcome desk with some confusion:  our reservation having been mysteriously cancelled earlier in the day.  Some minutes of desperate computer database searching proved futile, and I was fully expecting to embrace our humiliating ejection from the establishment within seconds.  Mercifully a table was found for us - right next to the inferno-spewing charcoal barbecue.

I was pleased by the content of the menu, if not a little baffled by its presentation.  I do not expect a Michelin-starred restaurant to have any kind of "griled fish" or any instance of "Osso Bucoo".  Our friendly waiter did not appear to share my enthusiasm for diligently correcting their spelling mistakes.


The food, however was excellent - though diminutive in portion-size.  I very much enjoyed the white potatoes served with tamarind and yoghurt - the tang of the yoghurt worked excellently with the sour/sweet tamarind.  The perfumed "chicken chops" were moist and succulent.  The only query was the juxtaposed inclusion of peppers stuffed with goats cheese.  I don't believe I have ever seen any kind of cheese in Indian cooking except for paneer.


In all, it's a cool little restaurant.  Would I go again?  Probably not, though that is not to say I did not enjoy it's Indian charm.