Words and photos by Priscilla from Food Porn Nation and myself.

The award winning Gaylord Indian Restaurant was founded in 1966 and is an offshoot of the original Gaylord in Mumbai which opened in 1956. The cuisine originates from North of India with a menu that is long, varied and eclectic. The décor also embodies an authentic Indian experience with artworks by the noted Indian painter Prithvi Soni.

We dined at Gaylord recently as part of a Zomato bloggers’ dinner and Gaylord took the difficulty of choosing from its extensive menu by serving us a selection of their highlight dishes. There was food aplenty, and it was such a delight to have the opportunity to taste so many different things. We started with canapés before moving onto starters, main courses and then desserts.

For canapés, we tried some zaffrani chicken tikka (£8.50/£14) and chicken murg malal tikka (£8.50/£14.50), both of which were nicely cooked and pleasantly spiced. The aloo tokri chhat, a savoury potato basket was also really tasty and really crunchy.

Moving on the starters, and the tandoori tiger prawns (£10/£20) with saffron proved to be the knockout dish of the evening. The tiger prawns were big, fat and juicy with a firm luxurious texture. They were also really well cooked with the tandoor cooking helping to hold in much flavour. The spicing was lovely, and with the prawns being so plump, they were just a joy to eat.

Crab cakes (£11) with curry leaves, southern spices, sesame seeds and mustard cress were cleverly presented, with each crab cake being perched on a sugar stick. The spicing was pleasant, and the crab cake offered a decent flavour, but I would have preferred more crabmeat for a greater taste of the sea.

Gaylord – Crab Cakes Dakshini – curry leaves, Southern spices, sesame seeds, sugarcane stick

Andhra scallops (£11) was a slightly disappointing dish with the scallops being fairly bland. They tasted watery, and the combination with crushed black pepper, curry leaves, cherry tomatoes and pink peppercorns did little to lift the flavour of the dish.

Gaylord – Andhra Scallops – crushed black pepper, curry leaves oil, cherry tomatoes and pink peppercorns

There were two interesting taco dishes to be had, one of spicy rajma (£7.50) with red kidney beans, and the other of lamb seekh (£9.50). The red kidney bean taco was lovely and was bursting with freshness and aromatic spices. In contrast, the lamb didn’t hold up as well. More could have been injected into the lamb mince to give it more flavour. The taco shells were also a little stale.

Gaylord – Tacos – Spicy Rajma – Red kidney beans & Lamb Seekh Kebab

We had a wonderful selection of mains. I adored the slow cooked lamb shank (£18) as the lamb was meltingly tender and simply fell off the bone. The sauce, made with fiery red onions, plum tomato and Kashmiri red chilli wasn’t particularly hot, but it was delicious and worked well with the meat.

Gaylord – Lamb Shank – Slow cooked lamb, fiery red onion – plum tomato curry, Kashmiri red chilli

We were all in agreement at my table that the fish tak-a-tak (seasonal price), a whole pomfret tandoor grilled with cumin, ginger and masala was a delightful dish. The fish was tasty and fleshy, but it was the sauce that was the winning element with its wonderful heady mix of comforting flavours that complemented the pomfret well.

Gaylord – Fish Tak-a-Tak – Whole Pomfret, tandoor grilled, royal cumin-ginger masala gravy

Other curries included the prawn coconut curry (£19) with kaffir lime, mustard seeds and spices. The sauce was good, but the prawns were overcooked and therefore slightly rubbery. The butter chicken (£15.50) was respectable but the sauce didn’t quite have the smoothness I was hoping to see in a butter chicken dish.

Gaylord – Gaylord Butter Chicken – Tandoori Chicken strips, our signature Makhni Sauce

Sides of dal Bukhara (£9.50), slow cooked overnight, was delicious, as was the baingan hyderabadi (£6), a soft aubergine dish with a spicy masala gravy. An assortment of tandoori baked breads also went down a treat.

To desserts, and gajar halwa (£5), a carrot pudding served hot with nuts had a wonderfully soft texture and a gentle carrot flavour. Rasamalai (£5.50), an Indian soft cheesecake with cardamom scented sweetened milk also proved to be very fragrant. Both desserts were very enjoyable with neither being overbearingly sweetness.

The food at Gaylord was very good with lots of lovely spicing and inventive creations. A few items didn’t quite hit target, but in the round the positives outweighed the negatives. The service was also very competent and thorough throughout the evening. Gaylord was extremely generous in how much they fed us and for this I’d like to thank them. Yes this was a Zomato bloggers’ dinner, but the volume of food brought out to us spoke of great generosity inherent in how the restaurant is run which beyond just trying to impress us. Thank you Gaylord for a stellar evening.

Summary Information:
Likes:
1) The tandoori tiger prawns.
2) The slow cooked lamb shank.
3) The fish tak-a-tak dish.
4) The bread selection, vegetarian side dishes and desserts.
5) The competent service
6) The generosity of the restaurant.
7) All round lovely experience.

Dislikes:
The Andhra scallop dish.
The lamb seekh tacos.
The prawn coconut curry.

Food rating: 3.5/5
Service rating: 3.5/5

Prices: ABOUT £25 to £52 a head for about 3 courses, some bread and rice. Excludes drinks and service. Vegetarian mains are about £9 with meat and seafood mains between £15 and £20.

Website: http://gaylord-london.com/