Mint Leaf offers a sophisticated take on traditional Indian cuisine. Chef Rajinder Pander mixes traditional Indian cuisine and ingredients with modern techniques, creating colourful and attractive plates. The venue boasts a cocktail bar, too.
If
you’re training for a marathon and in need of carb-loading as
excessively dramatic as Kim Kardashian’s need for the spotlight, Mintleaf will
see you right. In search of a reasonably priced pre-theatre menu for a Monday
night dinner, I came here with relatively high hopes given that the menu looked far more
interesting than the usual central London suspects but sadly it did not deliver
as I’d hoped it would.
A vast, lowly lit and gently buzzing dining room greeted us
as we descended from the streets of Haymarket above and a warm welcome marked
out early on one of Mintleaf’s best features – friendly and polite staff. Two
courses for £17.50 and 3 for £20 is a flat-out bargain in the heart of the
capital but honestly, if you and your stomach make it through 3 courses,
please, tell me how.
Venison naan had me dreaming of other recent flatbreads that
had arrived on my plate and stalked my dreams, covered with toppings and slick
with butter; when it turned up, it actually took me a few seconds to find the
meat which was sandwiched between layers of thin bread. It was hard to get much
flavour of the normally robust meat because it was so finely sliced and
although the naan itself was light, puffy & crispy not to mention pretty enormous,
I’m afraid it didn’t deliver the rich, savoury flavours I was expecting.
Chilli
paneer was the second generously portioned course and the soft cubes of squidgy
cheese were well flavoured with chilli, garlic & spring onion, all of which
delivered a punch of spice and heat. Accompaniments were nowhere near as tasty
though with the choice being either another sheet of naan or a (what turned out
to be) far too large portion of plain basmati rice. I’m genuinely not sure how
anyone reaches for the dessert menu as the combination of bread and rice both defeated
me and left me feeling uncomfortably full which is a shame because the Dark
Chocolate & Star Anise Mousse sounded fragrant & beautiful. I also
found the pricing somewhat out of kilter – two courses for £17.50 but £6.00 for
a side of broccoli? Really?
Mintleaf
caters well to vegetarians with 1 out of 4 starters and 2 out of 4 mains
ticking that box and if what you’re after are vast servings of perfectly
acceptable food, then you’ll get on just fine here. Given its central location
and proximity to theatres, cinemas and nightclubs, I thought this might be more
of a drinkers than a diners destination but be warned – at £12.50 for the
cheapest G&T, I imagine the prices would prohibit more than one drink which
will be clung onto long after the ice-cubes have melted and the sliced lemon
wilted.
I
love trying a new place as much as the next over-eager eater but restaurants
like this remind me why places like Pizza Express will never go out of
business. A menu is only as good as its’ execution which here unfortunately
proved to be filling rather than fabulous, something that felt as though it was
down to lack of care rather than skill which in some ways makes it even more disappointing.