Darjeeling Express started out life as a supper club in lawyer-turned-chef Asma Khan’s Kensington home, and this Kingly Court restaurant is its first permanent spot. The small plates draw on her Calcutta childhood: home-style food, cooked from family recipes.
Most of the beautifully balanced small plates are excellent. Let’s start with the very best: Indo-Chinese chilli garlic prawns. Luxuriously buttery, smoky and spiced with long, thin chillies; I’ve thought about these prawns more than I should like to admit since eating them. Also lovely were fiery mutton cakes cut through with a delicate layer of mint and yoghurt.
Much is made on the website about the homeliness of the ethos – the kitchen is staffed by an all-women team, and a portion of the proceeds go towards promoting female equality in Darjeeling.