The latest Michelin star awards for London were announced last week, and Gymkhana, the much talked about Indian restaurant in Britain?s capital, was awarded its first star. This is remarkable, considering it opened just over a year ago. For owner-chef Karam Sethi, it was a proud moment, considering that his other London eatery, Trishna, is also Michelin-starred. Trishna, located in Marylebone, had earned an enviable reputation for its south-west Indian coastal food, but Gymkhana has catapulted him to rockstar fame. Gymkhana was voted number one in the National Restaurant awards, Restaurant magazine?s annual countdown of the top 100 restaurants in the country. A leading UK broadsheet, in its food section, headlined a piece on Sethi with the query: ?Is he the best Chef in Britain?? That?s high praise, considering the presence of star celebrity chefs like Gordon Ramsey and Heston Blumenthal to name just two.
Sethi is entirely self-taught and has added some unique touches and flavours to his food to make even the harshest critics go overboard with praise from the day Gymkhana opened in Mayfair?s Albemarle St, the narrow stretch that also houses the historic Brown?s Hotel and Rohit Khattar?s Chor Bizarre. It?s impossible to get a table unless you book well in advance so universal has been the praise. Inspired by colonial Indian gymkhana clubs set up by the British Raj where members of high society came to socialise, dine, drink
and play sport, it has a lot of cute touches, antique wall lamps
from Jaipur, hunting trophies, oak-panelled booths and black and white photos of that era.
The main draw, however, is the food, which is Anglo-Indian in treatment, with dishes like kid goat methi keema described as ?a complex interleaving of flavours that I kept kidding myself I would figure it out if I had just one more bite?, wrote The Telegraph?s food critic. The Guardian went even further, saying: ?Give thanks, then, for Gymkhana, the new Mayfair restaurant from Karam Sethi, which manages to be glossy and yet still delivers food with a serious kick and intent?. London?s Time Out wrote: ?Sethi lays on a splendid spread of modern Indian dishes based on regional masalas and marinades. The Goan pork vindaloo?slow-cooked chunks of suckling pig cheek, with vinegary red chilli-garlic masala, spiced with sweet cinnamon and pounded coriander?was outstanding.?
For the first time in 15 years of reviews, The Times? restaurant critic has given a perfect 10 for what he described as the tastiest meal he?s ever eaten. Sethi himself has been low-key, saying he finds such attention ?very humbling?, but he is undoubtedly the bright new star in London?s culinary firmament.