So technically my birthday is right around the corner but, except for my 30th, I’m not normally one who likes to celebrate. On the other hand, I’ll take any excuse to go out for a nice meal. Heh heh. Groupon had nicely co-operated by offering an excellent deal (half price on their tasting menu before service) on 1-Michelin starred Rasoi Vineet Bhatia, a very small and intimate, well hidden, Indian restaurant in Chelsea. Rehana had cause to comment it was almost like having a meal in someone’s dining room. You even have to buzz to gain access like you’re visiting a friend’s home for dinner. I quite liked the vibe, and despite the fact the weather wasn’t the greatest, appreciated the sky light that sat above our table. As a result of the intimate surrounds you are a lot closer to your fellow diners than is comfortable but with about 20 people in our room max it didn’t get too loud or overwhelming and thankfully no shouting required to be heard.

Rasoi Vineet Bhatia’s Indian style is best described as fusion in the way that Benares is, but more.

We started off with our “bread” course of pappadam with Mint and Mango Chutneys and two amuse bouche – which was a short of watermelon with spices mixed in and this beautiful mouthful of something which I unfortunately cannot remember the name of but Rehana said was the restaurant’s posh and refined take on some typical Indian dish. Incredibly delicious. If every dish was as good as these pre-starters then we were in for a real treat. And we were!

Spinach tikka chaat and warm potato-pomegranatea chaat were our first courses. The potato-pomeranate chaat in particular was a winner in this dish (the one on the left) – it was both sweet and spicy and tangy and all ingredients (not sure what the mysterious green sauce was) were so well in combination together. I wanted more but new that with six dishes to come, even if they weren’t going to be huge, I would have to pace myself.

Lamb dominated the next course and though not a fan of the meat found myself liking Gilafi lamb seekh kebab, lime lamb samosa served with herb and olive chutney respectively. Interesting ingredients to use in this dish.

And we come to what undoubtedly was my favourite dish of the night Wild mushroom and truffle oil laced khichdi (rice with lentils or simlar) sitting below Tomato “Makhni” ice cream. I could not go into just how amazing and exquisite the khichdi was and the tomato ice cream surprisingly did well to complement the dish. Incredible.

Apologies for the lighting on the next series of photos. The restaurant decided that it would be a good time to start some romance! Grilled Gun powder crusted sea bass, curry leaf upma, Moilee sauce, coconut chutney. After the amazing dish that had come before, everything following was going to pale in comparison to be honest but the sea bass did try its best. Taken alone it was a solid dish, sea bass was perfectly cooked and again had that touch of sweet and sour in the moilee sauce and the coconut chutney. Really good-sized portion on the sea bass too. Normally you’d get only mouthful sized portions on a tasting menu.

A melon and black pepper sorbet came next to cleanse the palette. I was happy that the chef continued to use distinctively different ingredients from the norm.

Then, as the finale to the savoury dishes, a bit of theatre with our Smoke cloud-Punjabi herb chicken tikka, Biryani rice, Sambhar sauce and “Salli” potatoes (though Rehana swapped her chicken for a paneer. Again another good solid and fun dish. Chicken was so tender and juicy and just the right level of smokiness leant to the tikka.

We were really quite satisfied at this point but had our final dish, dessert, to go. Cheekily called the Chocomosa: Warm marbled chocolate samosa with fresh rose petal-vanilla bean ice cream. Sooo good. Think fondue but inside a samosa wrapper and also mixed in white chocolate. The rose ice cream worked very well with this dish.

Petit fours wrapped up a pretty incredible dining experience at Rasoi. Food-wise there can be no complaints – all top-quality, well-thought out dishes that tasted incredible. Its not the kind of place that mixes ingredients just for the sake of being different – every ingredient was truly considered to see what it would add to the dish. From a service perspective the wait-staff were incredibly efficient and friendly and gladly not in our faces at every moment! Just the right level of service with the commitment to adjust our menu and their service to our needs.

The only minor drawback I would have in recommending this place is the price. At full price the restaurant is tre expensive – at £85 the tasting menu brings it up into nearly the same price category as such 2-Michelin starred restaurants as The Ledbury (http://www.thekua.com/sista/?p=13436) which is a big promise to deliver on something big. And they do deliver, only people might be reluctant to pay that much for Indian food, however fine it is. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend as a special occasion venue.