Draw me a lunch please.

I was lead to Sketch by my friend V one random Saturday afternoon as we strolled the shops along Oxford Street. He had heard of the place through some work colleagues and upon seeing it, I realized I'd also come across it a few times during my time in London, though I'd never ventured in. The restaurant is a rather venturous concept by Algerian-born restaurateur Mourad Mazouz and French chef Pierre Gagnaire. Mazouz is well known in the UK for his phenomenally successful restaurant Momo, an off-beat North African restaurant he opened in 1997. Pierre Gagnair is an icon of the culinary world, having been at the forefront of the fusion movement where he revolutionized French cooking. His eponymous, 3 Michelin Starred restaurant in Paris is consistently voted one of the top restaurants in the industry.

Of course, I knew nothing of this at the time; all I knew was that the menu looked interesting and I was very hungry. The restaurant itself is divided into five rooms: the West Bar, the Parlour, the Lecture Room and Library, the East Bar and the Gallery. In 2005, the Lecture Room and Library at Sketch earned its first Michelin Star for its Pierre Gagnaire's unique use of ingredients and combination of flavours. V and I dined in the the artsy West Bar and settled upon their 3-course prix-fixe lunch menu. Here is what we dined on:

Organic Salmon - Slow cooked organic salmon, white cabbage salad, iced green apple juice and coriander. I loved the combination of apple and salmon, it was so light and refreshing, a very enjoyable starter.

Chicken Breast - Organic chicken breast flavoured with citrus; almond cream and grapefruit juice, spring cabbage, passion fruit and creamy French beans. I apologize for the blurry picture, I'd forgotten my camera at home that day so had to make do with the one on my blackberry.

Sea Bream - Grilled fillet of sea bream and crispy bellota ham, tomato, basil and garlic crouton. They really managed to pack in a lot of flavour into this tiny piece of fish. I liked the simplicity of this course.

Chocolate Cake - Layers of chocolate cake separated by alternating layers of various flavoured mousse. Again, apologizes for the blurry picture.

Okay, so I'm not quite sure exactly what this was called. It was basically a sponge cake with layers of what appeared to be apple reduction of some sort, encased in a crisp meringue shell. As I'm an absolute sucker for any dessert with apples in it, this dessert gets bonus points from me on both presentation and sheer deliciousness.

Overall, I wasn't exactly blown away by the food. It was good, and I really enjoyed the playfulness Gagnaire has with mixing flavours and ingredients, and for a lunch that ran about £30 each it was almost a bargain. I think I may just have to plan a meal in the Lecture Room and Library next time for a more intimate foray into Gagnaire's culinary experimentation's. One suggestion I do have if you do take in a meal at Sketch, is to definitely make a point to visit their bathrooms. Individual egg-shaped pods, clustered together at opposite ends of an open space above the futuristic bar, make for a very amusing trip to the loo. Currently, the 1,819-square-foot Gallery is showcasing a solo-exhibition by Damon Packard called "Lost in the Thinking;" which is ' a retrospective of Packard's shorts, features and fictional trailers that appropriate and revel in the vocabulary of 1970's Hollywood movies and classic sci-fi flicks.' Personally, I didn't get it. To me it just looked like a bunch of random dark and disconnected images flashed on massive white walls, accompanied by bad music, in a massive empty room with big, modern, lounging sofas. But hey, that's just me.

Sketch is definitely a visual and gastronomic spectacle - a unique fusion of art, food, and music. Is it a bit much? Perhaps. Entertaining? Most definitely. If you find yourself in London debating where to have lunch, and wanting something to go home and tell your friends about, make a trip to Sketch - it really is a dining experience like no other.

Sketch
9 Conduit Street, Mayfair
London, W1S 2XG
Tel 0870 777 4488
Fax 0870 777 4400
Tube Station: Oxford Circus or Bond Street

So let us begin with a star...

A Michelin Star to be exact.

What better way to start off my first restaurant review than a dinner at a multiple award winning restaurant in one of London's most exclusive districts. The night was meant to be a "farewell London" dinner, but events in the past week have turned it into more of a celebratory dinner, which suited me just fine. I went with my friend B, who recommended the restaurant, having dined there several times already and had yet to be disappointed. Knowing her love of the cuisine, I trusted her judgement and told her to make the call.

Ten minutes and a quick text later - we had reservations for 7:30pm, Saturday night, at Amaya.

The restaurant is from the brainchild trio behind uber-successful Veeraswamy, Chutney Mary and Masala Zones. Since opening in 2004, Amaya has had no shortage of praise thrown at it and almost just as much criticism. In 2006, the restaurant was awarded a Star in the Michelin Red Guide, firmly establishing its status as one of the best non-European restaurants in London. With a ZIP code in one of London's most exclusive neighborhoods, along the border of Knightsbridge and Belgravia, the place is definitely not your typical Indian restaurant. Forget the elaborately, old-world, and just a slight leaning towards tacky decorating that seems to be the standard of most Indian restaurants. Amaya is all modern chic. The lavish dining room is a mix of sleek black accents, rosewood, vibrant red panels and Agra red sandstone, decorated with terracotta sculptures and minimalistic Italian leather chairs. Dim, candle-lit, mood lighting sets the tone for what is an undeniably stylish space catered to a fashionable and glitzy clientele.

Stretching along the back of Amaya, and definitely its main focal point, is the restaurants dramatic open-plan kitchen; housing three different grilling stations: the tandoori, the sigri and the tawa, it provides diners with an excellent view of their meals being prepared. When we arrived it was still relatively early and the restaurant had only a sprinkling of guests. Apparently, the restaurant has a no kids rule after eight, but being Easter long weekend it appeared to have been largely ignored as there were quite a few tables with kids. There were also quite a few flashily dressed women with their well-moneyed men, as well as one very peculiar mute couple that ate their entire meal in silence.

The menu at Amaya might be a little bit of a shocker for most people walking in expecting a typical Indian list of vegetable dishes, curies, and sides. Instead, Amaya's menu is divided into four sections, one for each type of grill- the tadoor, the sigri, and the tawa, as well as a small section of curries and biryanis. The food for the most part consists of small plates, designed to be shared tapas-style amongst the diners at the table. Since the restaurants speciality was pretty obvious, we focused our attentions on items from the grill. Luckily for me, since B was fairly familiar with the menu, I didn't have to agonize too much over what items to order.

After our order was placed, and glasses were 'clinked' (champagne for B, and a mimosa for me), the waiter brought over four little ceramic containers containing two different chutneys and two kinds of spices. We began with two different kinds of tikkas - chicken and monkfish. The chunks of chicken with a paprika marinade were juicy and tasty, nothing spectacular though. However, the bright yellow curried round balls of monkfish, cooking in fenugreek and leaf tumeric were absolutely fantastic. The fish was perfectly flaky and moist, almost falling apart on the tongue, the flavours were fully infused into the fish and the curried spice not overpowering. Both the chicken and monk fish were beautifully presented, and came skewered with what I can only describe as glamorized toothpicks. Next up was the spiced aubergine, a little sweet and tangy with just a hint of heat, there were definitely no complaints there. The show stealer of the night, however, was most definitely the Leg of Baby Lamb; the leg meat was shredded and presented with the bone, incredibly tender and coated in a wonderful light sauce, it was absolutely delicious. Last to come was our rice pilaf and dahl. The dahl was actually very good, but having had the misfortune of arriving after the lamb it really didn't stand much of a chance to shine.

Doesn't look like much food does it? That's what I thought when we were placing our order, but B assured me that it'd be more than enough and it's a good thing I listened. We were both so stuffed by the end that neither of us could bring ourselves to finish off the dahl. Within a few minutes of clearing our plates, our ever attentive waiter (perhaps just a tad bit too attentive) eagerly brought over the dessert menu. The desserts all looked amazing. If you're anything like me, someone who can't "plan" ahead while their eating in order to save room for the last course, then I'm happy to inform you there is a dessert on the menu that is just perfect for people like us. At just 40 calories and no added sugar, even the most waistline obsessed can have one, its their Pomegranate Granita. Served in a martini glass, it was a very appropriate finale to a distinctly different kind of Indian meal.

I can see why some are less than impressed by this rather ambitious and divergent take on Indian cuisine. The prices are not for the faint at heart, portions are (to put it kindly) dainty, and whether its as a result from the area it's located in or the general clientele, it almost comes across as a bit pretentious. Amaya, in all its slinky decor and elevated interpretations on traditional Indian street fare, defies all the traditional western stereotypes of what Indian food is and how it should be. Indeed, the restaurant has been criticized for diverging too far from from tradition and adopting, perhaps, just a bit too much of the western aesthetic. And while I'm generally not one to scoff at tradition, I love a good 'ol spicy vindaloo any day, I do think it's exciting to see someone tamper with it and manage to pull it off so successfully in all aspects - presentation, flavour, ingredients, and setting. Like everything food should evolve. Otherwise, it becomes static and what was once "traditional" eventually becomes just plain boring.

It's about time that a cuisine as aromatic and complex as Indian, has begun to gain recognition amongst the gourmet elite. True, it's undergone a bit of a make-over, and had a few extra $ symbols added to its reviews, but in my opinion Amaya deserves the praise for giving us something fresh, exciting, and a decidedly different experience in Indian dining. Although, a few extra tikki skewers apiece wouldn't hurt.

Amaya
Halkin Arcade, Motcomb Street
Knightsbridge, SW1X 8JT
Tel 020 7823 1166
Fax 020 7259 6464
Tube Station : Knightsbridge