Food & Drink Life

Atul Kochhar is everywhere at his Mayfair restaurant Kanishka, and that’s exactly the point

Emma Trehane

June 17, 2026
8 min read

Atul Kochhar is everywhere at his Mayfair restaurant Kanishka, and that’s exactly the point

Some chefs stay hidden behind the kitchen door.

Atul Kochhar is not one of them.

When we visited Kanishka, he seemed to be everywhere. One moment sitting at a table talking to diners as though they were old friends, the next back on his feet crossing the restaurant floor, checking on service, greeting arrivals and keeping an eye on the details. There is a certain confidence that comes with having built one of London’s most respected Indian restaurant groups, but there is no sense of distance about him. This is somebody who remains deeply invested in what happens inside his restaurant.

That level of care runs through Kanishka itself.

Kochhar needs little introduction. He became the first Indian chef anywhere in the world to win a Michelin star, awarded in 2001 at Tamarind in Mayfair, where he was head chef at the age of 31. Kanishka, which opened on Maddox Street a short walk from Regent Street and Oxford Circus, is his most recent venture, and the one in which he now seems most personally and visibly involved.

The room strikes a clever balance. Smart enough for a special occasion, comfortable enough for a long evening. Deep blue tones run through the dining room while several striking contemporary portraits dominate the walls, bringing colour and character to the space. Kanishka takes its inspiration from the cuisines of India’s north-eastern frontier while drawing ideas from across the entire country.

We spent several minutes studying the menu before our host Pankaj (aka Panks) came to our rescue.

Faced with far too many tempting options, we accepted his suggestion to leave the ordering entirely in his hands. It is the kind of decision that only works when a restaurant genuinely deserves your trust. It proved to be one of the smartest decisions of the evening. His enthusiasm for the food was infectious, his recommendations never missed the mark, and each dish arrived with an explanation delivered not as a rehearsed speech but as a recommendation from someone eager for you to enjoy what was coming next. By the end of the evening it felt less as though we had worked our way through a menu and more as though somebody had thoughtfully assembled the entire meal for us.

Gadwall duck and lentil cone | Image credit: Richard Trehane

For anyone settling in before the tasting menu begins, pappadams with lamb chutney, chicken pickle and mango berry chutney at £7 make for an easy start while you study the room. Once the tasting menu began, the opening snacks set the tone immediately. A gadwall duck and lentil cone delivered subtle flavour in a single mouthful, while the beetroot dumplings were equally impressive. Their vivid colour suggested sweetness, yet the flavour was far more nuanced than expected. Alongside them sat a rosemary-scented lamb seekh kebab and fish Amritsari, a Punjabi street food classic from the city of Amritsar, where fish is coated in a spiced gram flour batter and fried until crisp. It is usually made with freshwater fish from the rivers around the city, so seeing it done here with whatever the kitchen had to hand felt like a small act of translation rather than imitation. The result was a contrast between earthy vegetables, aromatic spice and delicate fish that set the standard for everything that followed.

The Bhuni Macchi (Chettinad spiced monkfish), had been prepared on Saturday Kitchen that weekend, and it quickly became clear why Kochhar continues to champion it. Chettinad is one of the most complex spice traditions in India, originating in Tamil Nadu and built around dry-roasted whole spices, black pepper, fennel and aromatic combinations that take time to develop their full depth. Panks told us the fish is marinated before being giving a barbecued char on the outside while keeping the inside soft and fleshy. That was exactly what arrived at the table. The exterior carried a smoky, caramelised edge, while the flesh beneath stayed moist and delicate, carrying the warmth of the spices with each mouthful. Creamed kale korma provided richness and balance. A cardamom-infused cheese fondue added an unexpected but entirely successful layer of flavour. It worked completely.

Meem Moilee | Image credit: Richard Trehane

The Meen Moilee was another standout. Meen Moilee comes from the kitchens of Kerala’s coastal communities, a restrained, lightly spiced stew that lets the fish speak rather than drowning it in spice. At Kanishka, Kochhar uses halibut in a watercress-based sauce that delivered freshness without overpowering the fish. The halibut flaked effortlessly beneath the fork. Tapioca pearls and sea vegetables added texture and helped maintain the dish’s coastal character.

The Royal Kanishka Grill demonstrated Kochhar’s command of the tandoor. Tandoori prawns, sea trout, chicken tikka and lamb chop all arrived perfectly judged, each retaining its own character despite sharing similar cooking methods. The lamb chop in particular had that balance of char and tenderness that marks out a well-run grill section.

No visit to Kanishka feels complete without Atul’s chicken tikka pie, the dish that has become the restaurant’s calling card for good reason. At £21, it is exactly what it sounds like and somehow still a surprise, properly spiced chicken tikka, rich and warming, sealed inside golden, flaky British pastry, then served with a tangy berry chutney that cuts straight through the spice. It is the kind of pairing that works so well, with the sweetness of the berries doing for the pie what a squeeze of lime does for a curry. We wanted more of it, and we were not shy about saying so.

The wine pairings revealed the same willingness to look beyond the obvious. A Rhythm Alphonso Mango Chenin Blanc from Maharashtra, £12 a glass, brought tropical fruit notes that stopped well short of sweetness alongside the halibut. A Chablis from Domaine Vrignaud, £15 a glass, provided the precision and minerality that allows food to remain centre stage.

Among the mains, the Rara Gosht deserved special mention. A Mughlai dish with roots in the royal kitchens of Lucknow, it combines two forms of lamb in a single curry. Slow-braised pieces and minced keema, the mince enriching the gravy as it cooks while the whole pieces retain their substance. At Kanishka a lamb chop and a crisp potato and leek bhaji complete the plate, giving the dish three different textures of the same meat. Rich, comforting and deeply satisfying, it was one of those dishes that seems impossible to stop eating.

Then there was the black dal.

Dal makhani is deceptively simple to describe and genuinely difficult to perfect. The black lentils require long, slow cooking for their full depth to emerge. This version had that depth. It was one of those dishes that had everybody at the table reaching for another spoonful despite insisting they were already full.

The menu offers further temptation beyond what we tried. The Lamb Wellington, chef Atul’s take on a British classic, wraps Romney Marsh lamb canon in mushroom and pastry, serving it with rainbow chard and a rich rogan jus. The Urulai Roast, Parisian potatoes with moringa and curry leaves podi, is worth ordering alongside.

Dessert maintained the same balance. The Gulkand Kulfi combined a sweet preserve of Damask rose petals with pistachio and lychee, and together felt distinctly Indian while remaining light enough to close the meal comfortably. The chocolate and coconut rocher provided a richer conclusion without becoming overly sweet.

What impressed me most about Kanishka was not any individual dish, although there were several I would happily order again. It was the consistency of thought behind the restaurant as a whole. Every plate felt connected to the same idea: taking regional Indian cooking seriously while remaining open to new influences and techniques.

Restaurants often talk about personality.

Kanishka genuinely has one.

Much of that comes from the presence of Atul Kochhar himself. His fingerprints are everywhere, from the menu and wine list to the artwork on the walls and the warmth of the service. You leave with the sense that this is not simply a restaurant carrying a celebrity chef’s name. It is a restaurant still being actively shaped by the person whose name appears above the door, something increasingly rare in London dining, and all the more valuable for it.

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