Tucked away down in beautiful Haymarket, minutes away from bustling Piccadilly Circus, lies Farzi Café, a place specialised in showcasing the evolution of Indian cuisine with a British twist and promises to take its guests on a journey around the country with its classic ingredients but with more elaborate techniques.
On entering the restaurant, the first thing that catches your eye is the beauty of the place itself. Solid gold ornaments hanging throughout the restaurant create an elegant and cosy atmosphere. You can immediately feel the vibe, air buzzes with chatter, the main large bar in the middle invites you to try the wide range of cocktails. The open kitchen at the back gives off delicious smells, making you want to sit and devour the entire menu.
The food menu is really extensive but we were lucky to try their new winter menu, which consisted of 4 small plates, 3 main dishes accompanied by different sides and two desserts.
We’d like to mention the outstanding service we received from the staff who spent great time explaining their new and innovative cocktails menu as well as the details of each dish that we couldn’t wait to tuck into. Often we eat Indian food without thinking about all the ingredients that went into making it, so this was a lovely change.
The starters arrived - Dal Chowal Arancini, Zaffrani Murg Tikka, Raw Banana Cutlet and Manglorian Rava Fried Prawns. Our favourite was without a doubt the arancini - a crispy and tender arancini mixed with the sweetness of the chutney - we could have easily ordered multiple more portionsThe Raw Banana Cutlet was an interesting one.. We had never tried a banana cooked with peas and yogurt and it turned out to be surprisingly delicious. The small plates are great as ice-breakers to start the meal with, so don’t ignore them and acclimate your palate to the wide range of flavours.
For our mains we ordered Tandoori Paneer and Mushroom Butter Masala, Koli Varuval Chicken and Lamb Shank Vindal. All of the mains were accompanied by a selection of Indian breads and fried onion saffron rice. The three mains were cooked to perfection. However, despite being avid lovers of spicy food, if you aren’t used to the intensity of Indian spice, we highly recommend you ask for this dish to have slightly less spice!
