Tamarai Restaurant, London – Review

Situated 5 minutes walk from Holborn Tube station, Tamarai is a little hidden gem of a Pan Asian restaurant. It`s quite possible that you`ve walked passed 167 Drury Lane hundreds of times and never known it was there. You access it from the high street then go underground to the venue through a walkway and down some steps to dine.

We had absolutely no expectations of Tamarai, so when we walked down into this chic and stylish `sub terrainian bar/restaurant` we were suitably impressed – great first impressions. Apart from being a restaurant, the venue is probably best known for its night life and impressive `late night` bar, which has indeed won awards. Apparently (we didn`t stay long enough to enjoy it), once dining finishes at 11pm the bar comes alive with its own DJ, who plays on until 3am on Friday and Saturday nights.

But I digress… back to the meal! We opted for Scallop Dim Sum as well as the Foie Gras and Fried Prawns (there were three of us before you call me a piggy!). All amazing, although looking at the huge scallops I definitely had food envy over my colleagues choice. The Foie Gras is one of my favourites though and was utterly divine. So top marks for starters.

For our mains, we opted for curried venison shank and green chicken curry. Again, we can`t fault the food, our empty plates said it all. What was pleasantly surprising was the cost of the dishes, we`ve eaten terrible food at some nameless places over the years, which was at least double the price. Very, very reasonable and I honestly mean that.

The taste of almost every dish was unique, this is what stood out for us. Pan Asian means a fusion of flavours from all across Asia obviously, and this is exactly what it`s like. Think Chinese meets Indian and Indian meets Thai and you are close to the creative juices that flow from the kitchen. Delicious!

There were a couple of mid courses, which were fantastic and cleansed the palate nicely. But please not, this isn`t `fine dining` in the context of eating at a Michelin star restaurant, nowhere near as fussy. However, this is still luxury food and you get fantastic portion sizes and flavours that you possibly haven`t ever dared/thought to try in the past. A fantastic dining experience overall, thanks to the staff who were especially friendly and hospitable.

We`ll be back!!!