With the unusually cooperative weather continuing in London we dined @ Scott's in Mayfair, which goes immediately into rotation, along with River Cafe as one of our London favorites. First of all we loved the decor, which has a comfortable clubby feel. There's leather banquette seating throughout the restaurant and as it's quite celebrity driven there are also dining tables in the elegantly appointed champagne and oyster bar for those who want to see and be seen. Talking of celebrities, you may be familiar with Nigella Lawson the Domestic Goddess of British TV, who was dining at Scott's on the outdoor terrace last year when she was seen being choked by her then-husband, Charles Saatchi. Back to the food - the menu specializes in market-fresh fish, seafood, caviar and I had the dover sole, which I also ordered in a couple of other restaurants and Scott's was by far the best!
Our good friend Raj Ghatak, who is our resident man-about-town and often recommends restaurants we should try, mentioned the Michelin starred Indian restaurant, Gymkhana. He hadn't yet tried it as the only reservation he'd ever been offered was at 10:00 p.m. I lost interest in going once I heard that, after all it's London and there are great Indian restaurants all over town. Anyway, we asked our Concierge at the Knightsbridge Hotel, where we always stay to try and he effortlessly got us a reservation at 7:00 pm. Gymkhana's decor is minimalist Indian Colonial-Raj clubhouse inspired, with ebonized wood-stained floors, tobacco colored leather banquettes and sepia prints of Colonial-era India on the walls. My favorite dish was the young deer biryani, which was nothing short of spectacular and based on that dish alone understand why it has that coveted Michelin star. Of course it too has joined our growing list of London favorites. Raj is now 'best friends' with the manager and will hopefully have no problems securing a reservation at a reasonable time going forward.
