Restaurant Review: London Taxi

These are exciting times. I’ve been tracking Mumbai’s restaurant scene past thirty years and never seen such a flurry of new restaurants before. Way back then, the barren mill area of Lower Parel had the lone Bowling Co. Nowadays, a new restaurant pops up almost weekly. You name it. One of those Lower Parel Mills has got it - from ‘Rivers to Oceans’ (The hottest, latest), Typhoon Shelter to Flea Bazaar Café and London Taxi.So, when our London-based foodie buddy, Safdar Bandukwala jets into Mumbai for this weekend, we pop in here with Haider Bandukwala. Both brothers, of Sri Lankan origin, globetrotting gourmets and chemical businessmen, they completed their school in England and are adventurous foodies. Safdar keeps a close track of the London restaurant scene. A few months ago, we’d lunched at London’s Royal China. Its indifferent food and rude service had us wishing we were back to Mumbai’s consistently good Royal China. What effect did Mumbai’s London Taxi have?
DÉCOR
Disco vibe, custom-made, taxi-shaped floor tiles, colourful pipes run across the ceiling, (we’re told it’s the tube map of the London Underground) backlit bar, a giant screen, suspended hoops of lights (Piccadilly Circus, we are told). There’s even a Sherlock Holmes PDR.
FOOD
Baos, Gougères, Nachos, Flatbreads, Malaysian Curry, Sri Lankan Sambal, and so on and on... We try giving you an idea of what to expect: begin with the Russian Chicken ala Kiev, Mini balls stuffed with butter garlic pesto and Harissa placed on straw potatoes. Clearly, the dishes are not bound by geographic boundaries. Be it the Omelette-topped flatbread served with Pineapple Raita spiked with blue cheese or the Multani mushroom accessorised with Mango wasabi mayo and pachadi. Surprisingly and interestingly, in the above dishes, the profusion of flavours and cuisine elements worked well. End with the velvety, tasty, boozy chocolate mousse dessert. Do ask for the delightful brioche with a butter platter.
MINUS POINTS
Noisy. Very noisy. Dark. Difficult to read the menu. Slow and confused service. The traditional British Bangers and mash is a gummy, chicken sausage and the Welsh rarebit is innovated with a discordant thecha sauce and chilli oil. Lacklustre Malay curry and Fenugreek Chicken.
Desserts disappoint, except for the Chocolate Mousse Payasam Ice cream, which not only has a laddoo base but also banana cake melt pearls and creme anglaise. Discordant elements. Ditto for the Peri Peri Chicken mismatched with Apple mint emulsion and tomato chilli. Avoidable.
MY POINT
Don’t go looking for traditional British dishes; this is a cosmopolitan London’s Taxi. Not only does this London Taxi zigzag all over the globe with its menu, but (and this needs to be underlined) each dish attempts to do the same too. Sure! It opens up continents of flavour, revs up exploration, but many a time, it crashes the palate with its busy unfocussedness. However, in the case of some of the starters, the different elements do come together in a tasty harmony. So, while my guests would go back for drinks and starters, the slow service, noise levels and too much of confusion, fusion and profusion on each plate would not have me riding this taxi…
Note: I believe, taste is very subjective. In the interest of objectivity, I requested a reader feedback on Instagram and Twitter, and here are the five responses. @shitalkakad loved the food and presentation by @chef-nagrajbhat. As did @farhadjd and @dobakesomelove. ‘Amazing food’ replied @krushithakrish and @rahul_ahluwalia agreed. Thanks for your responses!