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Saffron Indian Restaurant 306b Fulham Road, London, SW10 9ER 020 7351 1282 or 020 7565 8183 | 
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The Restaurant |
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Saffron Indian restaurant deserves to be busy. The food is consistently excellent and the prices keen. The location of this restaurant on the Fulham Road is ideal for parking or communting by underground or bus. The food is a must to be experienced with many varieties and own creations by the renowned chef for example, a Punjabi fish tikka, demonstrated an exciting range of quite haunting and intriguing flavours, while the little cauldron of black dal that was recommended as an accompaniment proved more than satisfactory. The menu also offers intriguing dishes such as khand khargosh, a rabbit-based dish that is apparently a Royal delicacy from Jaipur - traditionally cooked in hot ash underground and adapted today by cooking in live embers above ground'. It is presumably this dish's regal antecedence that accounts for the strip of silver laid over the top as a garnish. The place is used by gourmets all over west London for its take-aways and one fan of the place just rings up and asks for a take-away, leaving the owner to decide what he should eat. The beer of choice is Lal Toofan. |
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| The Choices |  |
The Ethos | ||
| Good starters are the Punjabi fish tikka (£3.95); the shaami kebab (£2.95) - two small patties of lamb and herbs fried until they are like crisp miniature hockey pucks; and the saffron prawn kebab (£3.25). Main-course curries include khand khargosht (£10.95), an interesting dish which originates in Rajasthan and is made with rabbit; the sauce is tomatoey and agreeably sharpened with lemon juice. Or try fish Koliwada (£6.95) - chunks of deep-fried fish named after a Bombay suburb. Or there's laal maas (£4.95), which is a lamb dish made with red chillies, although not aggressively hot. Dal Maharani (£2.95) is a good mixed lentil dish, and dahi ka burtha (£2.95), from the health menu, is terrific - roasted aubergines mashed with yoghurt. The staff seem knowledgeable and service is slick |
After 15 years managing a variety of West End restaurants, Sunny Dewan finally got to open his own place in 1998, and took over the modern dining room of what was previously a Chinese restaurant. Saffron is well-lit, elegant, and shows just how far Indian restaurants have come since the days of flock wallpaper. The menu includes some interesting and unusual dishes hidden among an array of crowd-pleasers, and there's a rather coyly titled section - 'Your good health corner' - where the emphasis is on reduced-fat dishes, lean meats and vegetables. |
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| The Revues | ||||
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"One of the six best Indian Restaurants"
ES Magazine "the reasurringly short menu injects some fresh names &ideas into the usual Indian rollcall.There is a liveliness in both ingredients & seasonings which will draw me back..." Fay Maschler, Evening Standard "Saffron is a refreshing departure from the norm...staff are attentive & friendly without overstepping the mark..The menu is not the usual curryhouse roll call...many of the dishes are unfamiliar, some little seen outside india..." Time Out, Eating Out Guide |
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