Malabar (Indian)
Above: Malabar, where the lamp chops, ‘richly flavoured with warm spice’, are a highlight
Back in the 1980s, way before most of the modern breed of pukka Indian restaurants came along; Malabar opened its doors, serving what were – by the standards of the day – innovative dishes. Sizzling chicken livers, tandoor-cooked venison, vegetable dishes of pumpkin and banana; hardly the stuff of flock-walled curry houses.It found an appreciative audience in the genteel streets between Notting Hill Gate and Campden Hill Road, and it is now something of a veteran.The first thing that always strikes me about Malabar is the décor, more precisely, the lack of it. It is, for an Indian restaurant, startlingly minimalist, its rooms are painted white, with embroideries of the Taj Mahal conspicuously (and mercifully) absent.The atmosphere is warm, however, largely thanks to the well-heeled locals who treat it like a canteen and the pleasant, well-informed staff. Many of the dishes display a symbol which is translated as ‘cool for kids’. This always makes me wince, but child-friendliness is taken seriously at Malabar. The Sunday buffet lunch, for example, is something of a bargain at £9.90 a head, particularly since children eat for free.I tried some old favourites on my last visit, not so much to see if they had changed over the years (they haven’t, really) but whether the burgeoning sophistication of new-wave Indian restaurants had left their menu looking a little tired.The sizzling platter of pink, spicy chicken livers is still a terrific dish. Marinated in yoghurt, grilled over charcoal and smoky with paprika, they raise the humble chicken liver to sublime heights.The lamb chops (described as ‘Badmarsh’, which is Hindi for ‘rascal’) were excellent. Richly flavoured with warm spice, but not over-marinated.The banana dish; cooked with ginger, amchoor (mango powder) and black salt, was disappointing, partly because the black salt was entirely absent. This sulphurous powder is an acquired smell, and maybe the chefs at Malabar have had too many complaints that their banana smells of rotten eggs. The pumpkin, however, was on fine form, gently spiced, fried in butter and strewn with fresh herbs.One area in which Malabar could definitely sharpen its act is fish. Of eight seafood dishes on the menu, two feature monkfish and the rest feature prawns, which is a little unadventurous for a restaurant named after a coastline.The monkfish main course was a decent piece of fish, slightly swamped by its curry leaf sauce, but impeccably fresh.Malabar’s à la carte menu is not cheap, but then it is a fairly smart restaurant in a fairly smart area, with jolly good ingredients cooked freshly to order. There is no reason why it should be any cheaper than a comparable Italian or French place, especially not if you embrace the short but enlightened wine list. The Innocent Bystander Shiraz Viognier goes very well with everything, by the way. Bill Knott
A la carte meal for two, with wine, around £80
Malabar, 27 Uxbridge Street, Notting Hill, W8 7TQ; 020 7727 8800