Chutney Mary London

Chutney Mary opened at a time in London restaurant history when understanding of India’s culinary regionality was limited. It was in 1990, on the King’s Road in Chelsea, that the restaurant first opened, serving an Anglo-Indian menu that evoked the history of the Raj and had never really been seen in U.K. restaurants. Dishes included “Bangalore bangers and mash,” and even in 1990, the menu paid detailed attention to the regional and social histories of the dishes, noting the Christian communities in the country and the provenances of dishes like the Parsi roast duck and Mughal roots of a chicken korma.

The Dining Room

The dining room is one of the most elegant in London, and its menu is just as suited to a banquet of shared dishes as it is an individually coursed meal. Those who seek to understand the complexity of India’s cuisines will be left sated; those who just want the food to underpin the rhythm of conversation like a bassline will be delighted. This pioneering institution is ready for its future, as well as looking to the past.

During the daytime, both the dining room and the Pukka Bar stream through with light, bouncing off the mother of pearl table accents in the restaurant and the ornate Tikri glasswork in the bar.

Come night-time, the mood ebbs as the sun goes down into candlelit luxury, with dark woods and soft leather set off by white tablecloths and light glimmering off glasses and cutlery.