Quilon

The hubby and I celebrated our first wedding anniversary on Saturday and were invited to lunch at the Michelin starred restaurant Quilon. The restaurant is less than a ten minutes walk from Victoria station and has a grand entrance as well as feeling as though you have stepped into another country when walking through the door! The restaurant is large, light and calming.

Quilon opened in 1999 and Chef Sriram was awarded a Michelin Star in 2008, which has been deservedly retained. His focus is on South West coastal Indian cuisine. Both restaurant and private dining are offered here. The service is excellent and very personal adding to the experience. We arrived at 1pm and the restaurant slowly filled up until by 3pm our area was completely full. There are large tables suitable for group dining and smaller more intimate booths for couples. Much of the food is designed to share so you can try lots of smaller dishes.

We started with mini poppadoms and a selection of dips. My favourites were the tomato, coconut and coriander and the tamarind, which had a definite hint of spice.

 

We then made our selections from the set lunch menu, which can be found online. I chose the coconut cream chicken, which was incredibly succulent and my husband went for the pepper shrimps, which were juicy and very tasty.

Next up was a small glass of piping hot lentil and tomato soup that was absolutely delicious. I cannot even describe how good the flavours were, you must go for yourself to try it!

For the main course I chose the Quilon fish curry that consisted of cubes of halibut simmered in coconut, chili and raw mango sauce. It was creamy and light, which is perfect for lunchtime. The hubby went for the lamb biryani that was polished off quickly hence got the thumbs up from him!

The main courses come with a variety of sides for the table to share. We had lemon rice that had a very distinct lemon flavour, if you don't like lemon then ask for plain steamed rice. Pineapple and pomegranate with yoghurt, ground coconut, cumin seeds and mustard to cool the dishes down. Some spinach with mustard seeds and grated coconut. Then the best side in my opinion, which was a chickpea masala and a Malabar paratha each. The paratha was a flour dough beaten to a thin sheet and folded to form a layered bread and was deliciously buttery.

 

For our dessert we chose to share a mango sorbet that was amazing. It was sweet and full of mango flavour, I would definitely try this for a light way to finish your meal. We were also presented with an anniversary dessert. This was a pistachio cake with melted black sesame fondant pistachio ice cream. The cake was moist and not too sweet. I thoroughly enjoyed this. I saw others receive cakes for birthdays etc and I think it's great to dine in a restaurant that acknowledges special occasions.

As we left the restaurant I was also handed a gift wrapped box of two chocolates. I thought this was a lovely touch. Our meal was complementary but the lunchtime options are a two course, three course or tasting menu for the table and are all reasonably priced. There is a long drinks menu to suit plenty of budgets. A glass of sauvignon blanc and two Mongoose beers were priced at £22 in total. Quilon does not accept service charge, all service is included in the menu prices and there is even a note to remind you of this when presented with the final bill.

If you are in the mood for something different at lunchtime then definitely check out Quilon's set lunch. The menu has plenty of choices and will leave you feeling satisfyingly full and ready for an afternoon nap!