Veeraswamy
Through the media, we discovered that London’s oldest Indian restaurant, Veeraswamy, might have to close due to a building redevelopment that will remove their entrance. The restaurant has been operating in its current location for 99 years, but unless they manage to change the building owner’s mind they will have to move out. With that in mind, my wife had booked dinner for us on a sunny Friday evening.
After going up by lift, we were shown to our table overlooking Swallow Street. The atmosphere was full of light. We had booked a fairly early table, at 18:15, which meant we could still order from the pre-theatre menu.
I probably would have ordered these dishes anyway, as I fancied the Anglo-Indian Muligatawny Soup as a starter from this menu. It was just the right thickness, with good levels of spice. My wife ignored the pre-theatre menu for her starter, and instead ordered the Calcutta Beetroot Croquettes. These were crunchy, served with Stilton cheese and the sweet beetroots inside—it sounds like an odd combination, but worked surprisingly well.
Before and with our starters, we enjoyed some signature cocktails. I had the Citrus Burst spring special, and my wife had a new Old Fashioned.
As my main, I chose the Grilled Fish Exotica. Which was both spicy and sweet, with the sweetness coming from small tomatoes. The fish's skin was crisp, and a serving of plain rice and the crispy naan bread were great for lapping up the juices from the plate. As her main, she picked the Chicken Dilkush, a chicken supreme served with a sauce of almond extract, which was also on the pre-theatre menu.
With our pre-theatre menus we were also given a choice of dessert. I selected the dark chocolate and raspberry sorbets, and she enjoyed the pistachio and salted caramel gelato. A great way to finish our meal.
With the rumours of Veeraswamy having to close, we might not have the opportunity to go back, but if they stay open, we would very much recommend a trip.
Chakra
We have walked past Chakra many times, as it's almost next door to bottle shop and beer bar, Real Drinks that we frequent. Although we have often eaten at The Red Pepper, an Italian restaurant on the same street (which we also recommend), we've never ventured into Chakra, an Indian restaurant. Chakra also have other restaurants in Kensington and Kingston upon Thames.
Although we had booked, there were very few customers inside, although this was probably because it was still fairly early. The menu at Chakra has plenty of options, but isn't overwhelming and includes all the Indian dishes you'd expect. Classics like a chicken tikka masala, plus biryanis, and tandoor dishes.
My wife went for one of the tandoor dishes, the Chatpata Chicken Tikka — which was without sauce, as our waiter explained. It was however not just a dry piece of chicken, and still coated in something, giving a good level of spice and flavour and the chicken was still nicely moist. I picked the Kashimiri Lamb Rogan Josh as I was hoping for something a little spicier, which this dish delivered.
With our dishes, we also had a plain naan and some steamed rice. To help us deal with all the spice, we had the customary Cobra to go with our meal.
Chakra is a good neighbourhood Indian restaurant, and I'm sure we'll be back some time.
Dakota
On a warm Friday night in May, whilst visiting Leeds we ate at Dakota. Not knowing Leeds, we booked this place on the strength of lots of positive online reviews.
The restaurant is located in the basement of a hotel, and is gloomily dark. I'm not a fan of massive strip lighting in restaurants, but I do think the lights could have been turned up a bit. We note that online photos do show the restaurant more lit up.
The service was efficient. However, the waitress we had serving us, should work on making guests feel less "patronised" when engaging in small talk, for example when commenting on a customer's wine choice, or when discussing the purpose of their visit to Leeds.
We started with what was a “complimentary bread with a tomato, goats cheese and mozzarella dipping sauce" — apparently this was the favourite dish of the waitress. It was tasty enough, but perhaps a little heavy on the over-reduced tomato purée flavour.
The food was fine, the cod with prawns on a finely chopped red pepper base was fine, and my companions lamb was well cooked. A single side of soy glazed tenderstem broccoli (rather than the "recommended" 2 or 3 sides) was more than sufficient for us.
Overall I wouldn't recommend Dakota or revisit if I was in Leeds again. There are plenty of other options, which, in hindsight would have been better.
Camino Victoria
Camino Victoria is a fairly newly opened tapas place in one of the various new developments on, or near, Victoria Street. It was a nice warm evening, and lots of people were outside enjoying some food and drinks. If you're not near Victoria, they also have four other branches in London.
We sat inside in the comfortable seating room, and started ordering our dishes.
We went for the traditional tapas: Padron Peppers, some were hot and spicy, and some were sweet and mellow; Tortilla de Patatas, which had a lovely gooey centre; Patatas Bravas, with a pleasant spicy ketchup sauce; Croquetas, with its cheesy centre; Arroz Negro, a cuttlefish black rice, with squid ink; and Talos De Chorizo, soft mini tortillas, with minced chorizo, butternut squash, and some yoghurt.
There were three talos in the serving, but you can upgrade to have a fourth one — excellent when you're sharing with two, and frankly something that should be available for every sharing dish, when the number provided do not divide between the size of the party.
With our dinner, we also enjoyed a bottle of a really lovely cava, because we felt like it and it was Friday.
We were in the mood for some dessert, and shared a couple of chocolate truffles to finish our meal.
All the tapas were tasty and well presented, but not absolutely outstanding. For that, you'll probably have to head to Spain, and visit a really good tapas place — we've had bad tapas in Spain too! But if you'd like a taste of Spain in London, then Camino Victoria will do just fine.
Albert's Schloss
If you are in search of a bierkeller (German for beer cellar), with a band, and where you can dance on the tables (but not the benches), then Albert's Schloss is the place to be.
Luckily for us, there is also upstairs Schenke (think: German bakery café), and in the cellar there are many tables for less entertaining dining far away from the band. Here it is quiet enough to have a conversation over burgers, bratwursts, schnitzels, and other alpine fare. And the accompanying beer.
And this is where we found ourselves on this Friday evening.
Hiding away in the back, next to a ski gondola converted into a dining place, we started with a half pint of a traditional German beer. My wife chose the Currywurst as her main, two thick sausages with a spicy sauce and fries. I selected the Cordon Bleu schnitzel, a flattened chicken breast stuffed with Gruyère and ham, served with a mushroom sauce and served with Parmesan fries. The schnitzel wasn't of Austrian proportions — it did actually fit on the plate — but was well cooked, and certainly enough.
We washed our mains down with another half pint, and as we were quite full, we decided to have a digestive. You can get schnapps by the dozen, in all kinds of fruity flavours, but we went for something more classic. My wife had a Genepi, a slightly fruity grape schnapps, and I enjoyed a Mentzendorff Kümmel, which had a slight caraway and aniseed flavour to it.
We enjoyed Albert's Schloss, and it was great value. But it's not the place for a romantic or date-night dinner. Great for a group or a party with friends though.
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