La Portes De Indes, Marylebone London

La Porte De Indes is not like your typical Indian restaurants. It’s Indian with a twist and it showcases food from the Pondicherry region, a former French colony. So you can imagine how this place piqued my interest at the promise of an overlap between French and Indian cuisine.

First up, I couldn’t resist the temptation of tandoori seared foie gras. The wondrous slab of foie gras came accompanied with naan bread, fig and ginger chutney. This was beautifully rich and was perfectly juxtaposed with the sweetness of the chutney.

Foie Gras – £13.00: Tandoori seared, served on a crisp honey naan bread with a fig and ginger chutney.

The scallops were fresh, juicy and plum and were left in a pool of garlic and saffron sauce which I found very buttery and creamy.

Demoiselles de Pondichéry – £12.00: Large juicy grilled king scallops with a hint of garlic in a mild saffron sauce.

One thing that La Portes De Indes is famous for, is for their tandoori grill. The lamb chops were marinated in yoghurt, brown onions and garam marsala and served with a delicious mint chutney. These are so delicious it’s best to just unleash your animal instincts and gnaw them until they are bone dry.

Barra Lamb Chops – £19.00: lamb marinated with browned onions, yoghurt and garam masala; char grilled to perfection, served with mint chutney.

The soft shell crab was sweet and fresh but I found them a tad oily which made them soggy. However, the aioli was definitely the hero and came to the rescue.

Soft shell crab – £12.00

These king prawns were absolutely massive. They were grilled in the tandoor and served with a side of fresh red chilli sauce. Red hot if you ask me. This chilli sauce blazingly hot it was almost unbearable against my lips. So I just went back to the mint chutney from before and soaked up the remains.

Tandoori Prawns – £20.00: King Prawns rolled in caramelised garlic and garam masala.

The grilled sea bass is considered one of their signature dishes and some patrons actually order in advance in order to secure one of these little fishy’s. The sea bass is marinated with green pepper, garlic and shallots, is wrapped in banana leaves and served with a side of tomato rougail. Unfortunately, this dish didn’t quite live to expectations and was surprisingly quite dull.

Policha Meen – £25.00: Grilled sea bass marinated with green pepper, garlic and shallots, enveloped in banana leaves and served with tomato ‘rougail’

Plateau des Indes is a selection of their best Franco-Indian dishes. The prawn and the goat curries were the best curries they had on offer. They were creamy, tasty and not like your typical curry. The duck slivers were quite chewy although the tamarind sauce gave it a tangy sweet lift. The chicken was probably the weakest link, lacking in spice and the meat over cooked and dry.

Plateau des Indes – £25.00

The rose and pistachio kulfi was pleasant enough but I found the rose flavours a touch to strong for my liking, so I really only had a taste of this dish.

The real winner was the lychee and rose petal panna cotta. The rose petal panna cotta was in perfect harmony with the lychee jelly. I found the wild rose flavours more subtle than the previous and was simply lovely.

Welcome to La Porte De Indes, for Indian with a touch of French.