Jamavar — Restaurant in London

I have no clue why this place is popular. I really wanted to visit it since I saw it got a Michelin star and was a Indian restaurant. I made a reservation in advance to have dinner on 8th July 2024 on a very short business visit to London and I was completely disappointed.

It was a rainy night and when I entered the restaurant there was no hostess to attend/ guide/ greet for 5 mins. After that when I finally was led to my table a server arrived asked me for drinks gave recommendations spoke about the cocktails and helped me decide on one. I had the achari martini which was average to say the least but atleast the service was good for drinks. Then the servers changed and came time for food. I ordered the jamavar favourite galaouti kebab with marrow gravy and chur chur naan. (This dish arrived after 30 mins. Cold) , presentation was good but there was nothing chur chur about the naan. It was like a stale crushed cold roti cut irregularly without butter or even one layer in the texture. The galaouti kebab one piece for 20 pounds. Was good to taste but there was no flavour of mutton/ bone marrow in the Gravy. It was a basic onion tomato sauce used in any indian preparation.

Then came the new delhi butter chicken which I was waiting for as an Indian who moved to Europe a year ago. I missed indian food and my trip to London I was hopeful for good indian food and having butter chicken at jamavar was something I anticipated for days! I have no clue why and which food bloggers paid visit made me come here. The butter chicken was a disaster. I asked them to make it suitable for indian palate as I didn't want a milder version of a butter chicken I was waiting for. I'll start with the presentation

1. while this time the meal arrived hot. The presentation of butter chicken in any old Delhi Dhaba would be better than the dish that arrived on my table. Even dingy bars in India will serve butter chicken in a similar dish but better garnish. Disappointed at presentation

2. chicken inside tasted like it was just added and was not infused with the gravy

3. I had asked them to make it not sweet/ spicy and not intentionally mild on masala as they would probably do for foreigners. My dish had just additional Mirchi and garam masala

MTR/ any ready to eat butter chicken Gracy with added boiled pieces of chicken I could whip at home would taste the same/ better. Worst butter chicken ever. If U are serving horrible food with no garnish atleast provide some sides. Papad, achari onion to hide the bad taste. None was provided. If I remember right it was present on the menu as chargeable 5 pounds. At this point I was sure the place wouldn't even get slicing onions right and I skipped ordering that.

I have no clue if this food is being served as Indian food in the the high end restaurant in London which got a Michelin star. It is such a inaccurate description of representation of flavours of India outside our country.

Restaurant interior was okay.

Since I was indian and a solo diner there was no mid meal service check with me about quality of food. No check for additional roti/naan. (I did not want it but what if! How can U just assume a solo person would want one naan. What if I need more) When the bill was presented I told both the personal who came to take my plate and got the bill that the food was a disaster and the experience was not upto mark. I got the bill with a 15% service charge for god knows what service. The staff had under trained interns as hostesses! I requested them to delete the discretionary charge and the server who I saw first time all night looked at me surprised. I told him he shouldn't be for he knows that the quality of service and food doesn't even deserve 1/4th of the bill of 76 GBP that I paid. Location of the restaurant is good. That's it. I'd rather eat anywhere else on the street than...

You wouldn’t believe how many times we’ve walked passed this restaurant and taken in the amazing aromas. Well on saturday we finally went in for the first time and I can now promise you we will never ever walk past again. The food created by chef Surender and his team was absolutely stunning and matched by excellent service from one of the friendliest teams I’ve ever met.

The restaurant is on Mount Street which is just a ten minute walk from Bond Street station. As we approached we could already smell those wonderful aromas so we couldn’t wait to get inside. We entered to receive a fabulous welcome from Sumala who it was a pleasure to chat to throughout our visit. She escorted us to our table and left us with the drinks menu. My wife started with the Quencher - hapusa gin , rosemary , olive , orange bitter and tonic. For myself I chose the Vintage Negroni - strangers & sons gin , cinnamon infused campari and antica formula.

While enjoying our cocktails we were presented with the menu’s. These consisted of a Lunch , A La Carte or our choice of the Six Course Tasting Menu which I can now say at £105 was excellent value for money and believe me you will leave feeling full and satisfied.

The menu started with a Tellicherry Pepper and Garlic Soft Shell Crab accompanied by a plum chutney , garlic chips and homemade garlic pickle. I can tell you now this dish was incredible with flavours I never experienced before. This was followed by the Lobster Idli Sambhar a black pepper spiced lobster with rice lentil cakes and a vegetable stew that was quite simply delicious. The dishes just kept getting better and better in the form of the next course a Malai Stone Bass Tikka with mace , green cardamom , avocado and mint chutney.

The following three courses you were given a choice. This started with the fourth course. My wife chose the Kuti Mirchi Ka Tikka - chicken morsels , chilli , pickled radish and yoghurt. I opted for the Adraki Lamb Chop with royal cumin , fennel , ginger and carrot salad. My wife absolutely loved her dish and I can honestly say I’ve never tasted a lamb chop like it. As I told our waiter Yogy who was very engaging throughout that the lamb was my dish of the day.

Now it was time for the main course. Here we had the Malvani Prawn Curry with king prawns , coconut milk , tamarind and a traditional malvan spice mix. The other main dish was the Old Delhi Butter Chicken with suffolk corn-fed , chargrilled pulled chicken , tomato and fenugreek. These were accompanied by jamavar dal , palak paneer as well as unlimited pulao rice and mixed breads. My wife loved the prawn curry and the butter chicken was amazing. I can easily say that the flavour combinations of each dish were incredible leaving your palette dancing with joy. I enjoyed the main course with a delicious and creamy Mango Lassi.

After a nice little break we moved on to desserts. Here we shared the Chocolate Bounty of valrhona milk chocolate , coconut , chocolate crumble and cardamom cream as well as the Kesar Mango Rasmalai with wheat biscuit , alphonso mango cream and berry chutney. We finished with a glass of port and an Imperial Old Fashioned with rampur indian single malt , amaro montenegro , salted honey and mumbai bitters.

This brought to an end an absolutely stunning lunch. The food was incredible , the cocktails were a delight and the service was so friendly that made you feel like one of their family. They were always interested in what you thought about each dish and really couldn’t do enough for you. If you love indian food then I would highly recommend a visit here where I can honestly say you will not be disappointed. We as we told the team will definitely be back again sooner rather than later.

Thank You to all the team for an amazing dining experience and look forward to seeing...

I went to celebrate my 10th anniversary with my husband and indicated in my reservation that we are celebrating and would like a well-lit corner. We were the first to arrive for dinner and the restaurant was empty and we were sat at the worst corner of the floor beside the reception desk. It is clearly the least decorative and almost awkward place. We ordered drinks and food but felt not happy at all and wanted to change tables. We were denied that opportunity and told food has been punched when we told the staff that we were not happy because this corner wasn’t good for photos at all. We were even told only VIPs are offered the corner we were offered which is a hilarious thing to say. We wanted to keep memories of the special night but now that’s ruined. The staff instead offered us to move around and offered to take photos for us which is completely not what we were asking for. A few moments later, the manager of the restaurant Bikram/Vikram came and repeated the same lame excuses that were given to us before and to my utter surprise, he even went beyond his role and preempted and said, they don’t allow photos because “guests” get disturbed. We were not guests of the restaurant, according to the manager, I think we were the charity case. All this for a 13.5% service charge. A moment later we noticed other guests beside us clicking non-stop photos and why not, that is the trend. Jamavar’s reviews are flooded with guest photos. The staff had the audacity to behave this way because they simply didn’t check the reservation instructions. It is not uncommon for South Asians to be treated with substandard service levels at South Asian restaurants and Jamavar London was one of them. For the rest of the evening, there were weird stares from the drinks bar by some of the staff and wine glasses were removed without our permission. The staff serving us did offer to take photos but we lost our opportunity to celebrate our special moment by then. Let’S address the elephant in the room: indians/desis have this attitude towards other Indians/desis that kills their professionalism. I usually ignore but this one was difficult given the special occasion we were celebrating. I don’t want to be treated like a VIP and don’t want any less than other guests either. The manager and some of staff definitely haven’t frequented proper fine dining places to know the difference in service. I am aware that Jamavar serves high profile guests but that shouldn’t have any bearing on their attitude towards other guests just like us. Now the food! We ordered non-alcoholic cocktails with lychee and apple, shami kebab, soft shell crab, grilled prawns, lamb, seabass and biriyani. All the dishes were really good except biriyani which was great but could have been better, still no complaints. We couldn’t finish everything so unwillingly skipped dessert. The restaurant was kind to surprise us with a chocolate mousse. I am giving some photos. I have deliberately left out our faces and tried to show our corner. Let Jamavar thrive through their...