Amusing Bouches: Lasan and Benares, April 2014

Having been to both Lasan and Benares in the space of a month it was always going to be a bit difficult not to compare them. I'd become aware of both through TV shows: I’ve always liked the look of Akhtar Isalm’s food on “Great British Menu” and Benares has been on Masterchef.

Overall I felt a bit more love seemed to have gone into Lasan. There was a really nice fish based amuse bouche to start, then we probably went a bit overboard by ordering what ended up being a “Meat feast” sharing platter as a starter. I had a twist on chicken jalfrezi as my main course which I enjoyed but I was possibly hoping for something a bit prettier. We also had some naan bread and rice to share which ended up probably being a bit too much food. To finish 3 of us shared a selection of desserts. Overall it was nice but you are paying pretty high prices and maybe I wanted to be "wowed" a little bit more (something which Akhtar Islam's food seems to do on Great British Menu).

FIsh cake amuse bouche

Meat and fish sharing platter

Chicken Dupiaza

Sharing dessert platter

Although I liked what Benares was trying to do in terms of serving Indian food but with a fine dining style and I enjoyed the lunch we had, there were just a few things I didn’t think were quite of the high standard I was expecting including a couple of points with the food and serve. Pretty much everyone I know has had to listen to me go on about how I’ve much had nicer poppadoms at much less expensive restaurants.

It was a good value lunch menu though and maybe it would be good to go back for an evening service when it would be a bit busier because although it was a very stylish design I also thought the atmosphere was a bit lacking.