La Porte des Indes

It's not widely remembered that once upon a time, the French had a colonial interest in India too. They established a colony at Pondicherry (now Puducherry), a city in the south of India, on the coast of the Bay of Bengal. With the French colonial administration came French schools, French people, and of course, French food. French culinary influences are evident in Pondicherrian food, creating a sort of rich, spicy Indian cuisine that feels and tastes very decadent. And there's a place in London where it's available.

La Porte des Indes
32 Bryanston Street
London W1H 7EG
020 7224 0055

The Pretty Lady and I pitched up with CY, CL and CL's husband YY. YY had been here before, and had the discount voucher to prove it. The restaurant's entrance is quite unassuming, looking like a normal curry house. Once inside however, the kitschy decor creates a feel and ambience unlike any curry house I've ever been to. Think French colonial opulence with shabby Indian chic and you'll get the picture. The restaurant is also much larger inside than it appears on the outside, with a downstairs bar and space for about 50 tables.

I was quite interested in the list of whiskies - there were three Auchentoshans, a Glen Grant, and some Taliskers among the usual Macallans, Glenmorangies and blends. However, I decided to get a cocktail instead, specifically, a chilli and mango mojito. I don't normally drink mojitos, but this was great - spicy, sweet and refreshing, with both chilli and mango flavours distinct and complementary. Great aperitif.

CL ordered a selection of starters to begin with. As usual I didn't take notes - it's rude unless I'm among other food bloggers - so this list is incomplete. But I do remember demoiselles a Pondicherry (grilled scallops with saffron sauce), beignets d'aubergine (fried aubergine patties filled with paneer), crab Malabar (shredded crab meat with corn, mustard and curry leaves, in the shell), rasoul (lamb and pea pastries) and salad du metis (lettuce, chicken, banana flower and mushrooms dressed with tamarind). The scallops were delicious - I feel that I've always underappreciated saffron, and the sauce here was heavily infused with its flavour. The scallops were a tad underdone but I don't mind that. I also liked the rasoul, with its soft buttery flaky pastry. It was a great riff on a samosa.

We also shared our mains. They came on 2 large round plates, and we were thankful we had chosen a larger table that seated 7. There was magret de canard Pulivaar (duck breast served slightly rare with tamarind sauce and fresh pepper berries), roast black cod (marinated with fennel seed, chilli and tamarind and wrapped in a banana leaf), Xacuti de Galinha (I'm pretty certain this is Goan - chicken curry made with roasted coconut), lamb meatballs and sauteed okra. All this was accompanied by pilau rice, naan and le pain Creole (otherwise known to me as appam, rice pancakes).

The curries were less spicy than I thought they would be, and were sweeter and richer than usual, reflecting the French influence. I particularly liked the duck, with the fresh pepper berries to provide a kick of spice to complement the sour tamarind sauce. The cod was also very good, very different from the usual way of cooking black cod (miso marinated, popularised by Nobu).

We were nearly replete by this time, but I was greedy, so we had dessert. I had an Alphonse mango rice pudding, which was perfect in texture, but overwhelmed by the Mango. The Pretty Lady had lychee sorbet, and CL and YY shared a tandoori mango (yes, it's exactly as it sounds). La Porte des Indes also does desserts matched to wine, the highlight of which (for me) would be the red rice creme brulee. I'm having this on my next visit.

I enjoyed the meal. It was a different take on Indian food, providing variety and amusement among the many Indian restaurants that just do regular North Indian stuff. I'll be going back - at least several times.

Scores:

15 April 2008: TFQ = 25, CS = 24, S = 14, AD = 8, VfM = 6. Total = 77 points.

What does this mean?