Progressive Indian cooking, nestled away in the heart of Chelsea, just minutes from a bustling Sloane Square. Kahani opened in 2018 and came to life after Chef Peter Joseph who ran the kitchen at Michelin-starred Tamarind decided to go at it alone, using British seasonal ingredients to create Indian classics and give them a modern twist.
I’ve been to this same site a couple of times previously under different names and different chefs and at no points have any of them being interesting or accomplished – until now that is. Kahani already feels established, they serve fantastic cocktails, the decor is sumptuous and the cooking is confident. Prices are perhaps a little high, even for Chelsea – but the quality is here.
Big modern chandeliers, a private dining room looking out over the main room, hidden snugs to eat in private and even a fireplace (though not real) creating yet another little area which in the Winter will feel quite special I’d imagine.
We started at the bar and enjoyed a couple of cocktails which were excellent. Cocktails in Indian restaurants have come so far over the past couple of years and these were up there with some of the best. A Sweet Modhu for him was a mixture of bourbon, lemon juice, honey water, red chilli and honey crumbs – it was excellent. But better was The Chaotic. Barrel aged negroni and apple wood smoke. All served with a little theatrics (lots of smoke) and served in a rather interesting glass. If you come to Kahani – try this.
We took one of the booth and quickly to arrive were some rather lovely poppadoms. Served with the most delicious selection of chutneys, all of which were faultless and I could have sat eating them at the bar with nothing but cocktails all evening.
The food is designed to be shared as little or as much as you like so we started by tucking into some of the small plates and my favourite had to be that delicious soft shell crab. Here they had covered it in a crispy batter flavoured with Mangalorean spices, keeping the juiciness of the crab meat locked in. Then topped with a fresh tomato chutney. I mentioned prices here can sometimes be a little steep, but this at £12 I thought was particularly good value for what it offered.
When it comes to the actual cooking of the food here at Kahani, they’re masters Everything was cooked and grilled to perfection meaning we were finding little fault to remark on. One dish which showed that off was the free range chicken-tikka with saffron, mace, baby ginger and coriander stem. The chicken, juicy as it could ever be was smothered in spices and cream cheese before being grilled – resulting in some very memorable mouthfuls and I could taste all of the flavours promised in the menu description.
The smoked Malabar prawns with fresh turmeric, coconut and curry leaves was another fantastic dish. The prawns were big and juicy, well marinated and perfectly charred. I really got stuck in with my fingers here – the perfect way to devour any prawn in my opinion.
If I had to pick two dishes which had small room for improvement (but by no means bad in any sense) were the chutney paneer tikka with Andhra pickling spice and mint chutney filling. As well as the spiced chickpeas with sweetened yoghurt, mint and tamarind chutney (aka papri chaat). Very enjoyable, both of them – but I just felt they needed a little bit more of a punch in terms of flavours and intensity to make them really special. Paneer is my guilty pleasure and so I’m always searching for it when dining out.
We also tucked into some of the more traditional, well-known dishes – all of which were fantastic. Fluffy rice, buttery naans and Anjwani okra were some of the delicious accompaniments – but the main stars of the show were the Nalli Gosht. A bowl filled with slow cooked Somerset lamb shank, Kashmiri favours and spices. As well as the ‘Kahani’ butter chicken. It was one of the best I’ve had. Chargrilled chicken, covered in the most refined and elegant tomato makhani sauce you’re every likely to eat and sprinkled with some crushed fenugreek leaves.
We barely had any room for dessert, but somehow managed to tuck into this dessert platter which looked rather pretty and everything had a good flavour, but unfortunately everything was also melting on the plate when it arrived. Still, I could tell in its chilled state it would have been great. I really enjoyed my meal at Kahani and living in Chelsea myself I’m very intrigued to see just how this restaurant progresses because it has a lot to give. Would we come back? Yes!
NB: My meal was complimentary. All views are as always, my own. My views are not influenced by anyone other than my own palate and slightly poor eyesight.
