Amaya, Halkin Arcade, Motcomb Street, London SW1 (020 7823 1166). Meal for two, including wine and service, £110
It was the aubergine dish that finally convinced me that Amaya, a new-style Indian restaurant in London's Belgravia, is an interesting venture. Much more so than the sexy, crystal-shimmer, peel-me-a-grape setting: the dark-wood tables, the Italian leather chairs, the colourful, open kitchen, with its smoky grills and its seasoned meats skewered on massive spikes that look like they could have been nicked from the railings outside. To describe somewhere as being all smoke and mirrors is usually to allege fakery and con trick. But Amaya reinvents the term. It genuinely is all tandoori smoke and glistening mirror.
However beguiling the sleek design of this curious off-cut of a room may be, and I am more than capable of being suckered by a little tasteful lighting, I also know that, too often, it's an either-or proposition: either nice design or good food. Not both together. And then there was that spiced, grilled aubergine. As a result of this job I have a distinctly uneasy relationship with aubergine. I have tasted so many truly awful aubergine dishes that I would now rather nail my tongue to the cat than order one when it turns up on a menu. Either it's bitter and astringent, from cack- handed salting, or it has soaked up so much oil it could be used to power an Aga. But I was eating with a vegetarian and I didn't have much choice. This, though, was rich and nutty and aromatic and just a little caramelised as a mark of the fire it had endured. It was a great aubergine dish, three words I never thought I'd put together.
And it wasn't even my favourite thing of the night. That was the keema kaleji described on the menu as 'lamb liver, kidney and mince stir-fried with robust spices'. It was a ripe, sustaining Indian take on offal; sweet, meaty and dense. There were many other things, too, for Amaya is another one of those places which has firmly abandoned the starter-main course-pudding orthodoxy. For a greedy man like me, who hates having his options limited, it's a true pleasure.
From the meat side of the game, I liked the two succulent ginger, lime and coriander spiced lamb chops, the sides sliced back and filled with a little extra minced lamb to add a meaty boost. I loved the tandoori-blackened grilled king prawns the size of a baby's fist and the chunks of smoky black pepper chicken tikka. On the vegetarian side of the table there were miniature squash, cooked to spoon-cutting tenderness and filled with spiced cheese. There were patties made with spinach and some crisp sauteed potatoes dusted with a pungent mango powder. Daal was an intriguingly coarse stew and the breads came from the ovens just 10ft away. There's also a careful wine list of which over half is - Hallelujah! - available by the glass.
Is it expensive? Not exactly. I'd put it in the 'not cheap' category. The style of eating and the pricing regime - dishes from £3.50 for small plates up to the teens by way of a lot in the mid-high single digits - means you could put together a relatively cost-efficient menu. Their promotional material claimed it would be £110 for two at dinner and, without any calculation - we ordered what we wanted plus a bottle of wine - the bill came in at £111.86. For that you get good food, cool design, a buzzy atmosphere and waiters who seem genuinely pleased to see you. Oh, and don't forget the aubergine dish!
