The Mint Leaf restaurant in Haymarket is situated in London’s theatre district, just a few minutes from Piccadilly. The restaurant is situated underground in a basement area, which gives the restaurant the feeling of almost never ending space. The interior is dark and black throughout; a trendy, modern feel.
We were taken to the bar to enjoy some pre-dinner cocktails. The bar itself spanned the length of the restaurant and was stocked with enough spirits to serve even the fussiest of customers.
Our first cocktail was the Fresh Fruit Martini, which included Finlandia vodka shaken with a choice of fruit and a corresponding fruit liqueur. We tried the watermelon martini, which was very refreshing while maintaining a slight kick of Finlandia. Our second cocktail was the Porn Star Martini, which included vanilla infusion vodka with passoa and passion fruit. It was also accompanied by a champagne shot. Our final pre-dinner cocktail was the Mint Leaf Garden. Named after the restaurant, this cocktail included Tanqueray 10 Gin shaken with muddled cucumber, mint, elderflower cordial and apple juice. This cocktail was slightly sharp but very refreshing, a great cocktail to enjoy before eating.
Following our cocktails we were led to our table. While we looked through the menu we enjoyed the traditional Indian Lassi. The Lassi is a classic Indian yoghurt drink blended with mango. It was a wonderful start to a rich Indian meal and was just the right level of sweetness.
While we were waiting for our first course we took in the restaurants décor. Each area was divided by blinds to create different sections within the restaurant. This created an intimate atmosphere for guests and allowed us to enjoy our meal without the distraction of many other guests.
“Mint Leaf was a superior representation of Indian cuisine.”
We enjoyed a number of dishes between us, ensuring that everyone sampled each of the dishes the chef prepared. The first of our choices was Bhel Puri Chat, a dish of puffed rice with wheat crisp and peanut. It was seasoned with roast cumin and tamarind sauce. This contrasted with the non-vegetarian Duck Tikka dish, with star anise and cinnamon marinated grilled duck breast served with a chill jam. The cinnamon came through well in this dish and worked well with the star anise.
This was shortly followed by our main dishes, the first being the Jheega Hara Pyaz, which included black tiger prawn stir fry with garlic, spring onions and kadhai masala. This was a very well-prepared fish dish and the prawns tasted particularly fresh. The other dish we sampled was Paneer Lababdar, which included the delicate Indian paneer cheese in rich khoya sauce with kasuri methi. This dish contrasted well with the prawn dish and was very rich in flavour.
To accompany our meal we chose Dal Makhani, a dish of slow cooked black lentils with tomato and butter, as well as sag allo, a cumin tempered baby tomato dish served with fresh spinach. Both dishes were well–prepared and the sag allo in particular was full of traditional Indian flavour.
We also chose to accompany our dishes with Kackumbar salad, a salad of cucumber and red onions with tomatoes and roast cumin, along with Jeera and Saffron Pulao Rice and a stuffed Peshwari Naan.
Mint Leaf was a superior representation of Indian cuisine, the sensational infusion of traditional dishes was balanced with the contemporary presentation. The flavours did credit to the fresh and well-prepared ingredients and the chefs produced faultless dishes throughout the evening.
Throughout our meal we enjoyed a bottle of El Cipres, Malbec, 2011, which we finished just in time for desserts. For dessert we chose to sample a mixture of the sweet dishes available, including mango kulfi and rasmalai, both of which were very enjoyable and impressively presented.