Gymkhana opened in 2013 in a Mayfair basement decorated to evoke the colonial sporting clubs of British India — the ceiling fans, the dark wood, the polo memorabilia, the pressed tin ceilings that somehow feel like a room that has always existed and merely been waiting to be discovered. It earned a Michelin star within months, a second in 2018, and has since become the reference point against which every new Indian restaurant in London is measured. It remains, by some distance, the finest Indian table in Europe.
The cooking is not fusion in any superficial sense. It is Indian classical technique applied to exceptional British produce, executed by a kitchen that understands that a great dish needs no explanation. Kid goat methi keema with salli and pav. Chettinad butter pepper garlic crab. Tandoori guinea fowl with winter vegetable achaar. These are dishes that have been refined over years to a point where each component has a purpose and no purpose goes unfulfilled. The dal makhani has been cooking for 24 hours and it tastes like 24 hours.
The room seats around 70 across two floors. The lower bar is one of the best places in London to drink a gimlet before dinner — the cocktail programme is taken seriously, and the wine list, with its particular strength in French and Alsatian whites, is the most interesting in any Indian restaurant in the country. The service team is among Mayfair's most expert: formal without stiffness, knowledgeable without condescension.
At around £80–£120 per person à la carte, Gymkhana represents exceptional value at the two-Michelin-star level. The tasting menu, when available, sits around £120 per head. This is a restaurant at which the bill surprises people in the right direction — better than they expected, less than they feared.
