Benares Restaurant, Mayfair

We had a great time at Benaras. Prabhat ji recommended the best food and drinks, and was great to talk to! Great service and lovely atmosphere. I specially loved the Essex farm chicken momo, Gatta curry and the dal makhani. For drinks, the Chutney Martini was interesting - a medley of spices. I personally loved the Gimlet and Imperial more.

Good but definitely not worth the price. I went to Benares with a friend on 13/09/25 for lunch. To start we had the Tandoori Ratan, a plate with three different tandoori meats, kebab, prawn and lamb chop. The lamb was excellent, the prawn great while the kebab was merely good. All three were obviously high quality ingredient-wise but seemed somewhat one-note. Then we had Meat and Kabuli Chana Masala (lamb and chickpea stew), Jhinga Moilee (prawn green curry), Dal Tadka (yellow dal) and Podi Aloo (potatoes) with Paratha (bread) and rice. The Kabuli was very nice, the lamb flavoursome and tender, the chickpeas soft but not a slurry. The Moilee was excellent, very generous with the prawns and very rich. The dal was quite mediocre; fairly watery and therefore tasteless. The potatoes were also fairly average, tasty but slightly dry. The Paratha was excellently done, crispy yet not crumbly. The rice was not noteworthy. Overall the food itself was tasty, with the portions being maybe somewhat in the smaller side. The service was attentive, although the wait time for food was maybe a little long. The atmosphere seems to be the highlight at Benares; the wall of candles upon entry into the foyer, the pond with petals, the bar, everything seems fine tuned to impress. Easily the most breathtaking restaurant I’ve been in decor-wise. The overall bill came to ~£180 (90pp). This is the main problem I have with Benares; cheap tasty Indian food is very readily available, not only in London but in the UK generally, even in more rural locations. Although the quality at Benares is obviously higher than an average run of the mill Indian restaurant, so is the price. The price at Benares is 2-5 time that’s of a normal Indian restaurant but is only marginally better taste wise, never mind smaller portions. Thus, I cannot recommend Benares. Benares seems like a restaurant that is committed to luxury and spectacle over their food, and this I find somewhat vulgar. If you want to impress somebody or celebrate with a show of wealth then Benares is the place but if you are looking for really amazing Indian food then look elsewhere.