113 Restaurant & Bar (Bar, Restaurant)

Top 10 things you need to know about 113 restaurant:

1) Serendipitous moments are fleeting in London. Stay focused, people. Observe that unaccompanied £10 note flapping around in the wind. Smile at the Pret server who’s in a ‘giving out free coffee’ mood.

2) Simply spotting 113 Restaurant - a lunchtime-only excursion - is just the first chance you need to take; it’s hidden inside the very ordinary Law Society building down the decidedly commonplace Chancery Lane. Having already snubbed Gaucho, Cigalon and Brasserie Blanc nearby, you’ve established a taste for something uniquely brilliant instead.

3) You’ll need that sensitivity towards excellence once inside the restaurant too; it’s not easy to detect anything lucky about the understated design or layout of the restaurant, a prototype for a hotel restaurant if ever there were one. Functional and lawful, as though it abides, it’s little less exciting than bland.

4) However - and here it comes - with the succinct menu in hand, you can finally uncover the arcane delights contained upon it: anything labelled with the word ‘Dawaat’ is an absolute jackpot!

5) The Dawaat dishes - seasonal, changing monthly - are the creations of the restaurant’s greatest asset: Chef Ranjit from Mumbai who, frankly, should control the entire menu. His token inclusions are worthy enough for our Top 10 Indian Restaurants in London guide, even though it’s a mainly British-bent menu.

6) His Dawaat pork ribs, coorgi masala and kachumber salad - a firework celebration of colour, smell and abundant flavour - is one of the best starters you’ll ever taste. Order it twice and skip the main altogether, especially at only £6.50 a go...

7) ...but then you’d miss the Dawaat lamb rogan josh and kheema roesti, on a kadhai spring green bedding. This AA+ main is devoid of heavy sauce and claggy rice. Yes, curry for lunch on a hot summer’s day without sleeping at your desk afterwards. This, whilst the remainder of the menu serves up perfectly adequate, yet heavy traditional fare that the serious black suits of The City can’t ignore.

8) Dawaat desserts? Experimentations are underway. Watch this space.

9) Killer tip: accompany this pleasurable Indian moment with a glass of Nyetimber English sparkling wine. Failing that, the reliably oaky Domaine Louis Robin Chablis comes in a rather naughty carafe.

10) We’re all blessed. Chef Ranjit’s morsels of rapture are there to be taken, so reach out and grab them!...read more