A Michelin starred Friday Night Curry

This weekend saw me don a posh frock and venture out of sunny Hertfordshire towards the Friday night smog of London’s Mayfair… for a glass or two of bubbly, and a curry.

I’m a bit of a foody, with a vested interest in having a nose at restaurant décor, menu design and science, so testing out chef Atul Kochhar’s Benares Restaurant and Bar was an easy sell.

Situated in Berkeley Square, you might almost miss Benares, (well as much as you could miss a vast, golden edged doorway) nestled between the Bentley garage and Lloyds TSB.

Once ushered inside and upstairs by the top hatted doorman there is a relaxed, dimly lit atmosphere, with a luxurious hotel feel.

After being tempted by some exotic cocktails at the bar which left me feeling that surely, I must be on holiday, we were seated and handed a minimally branded, incredibly soft burgundy leather menu, with crisp, clean white pages inside. The menu contains a relatively small selection of complex dishes. There were just 7 starters to choose from, and 6 main courses, with the option of letting the chef decide and opting for a tasting menu. The menu is entirely written from the kitchen out, making me trust that whatever I ordered would be so considered and perfected I couldn’t really go wrong.

The food was of course a knock-out, the experience was interesting and exciting. To say that the rest of the world went away for a couple of hours would be an understatement. So, for a special occasion, Benares was a case study in the perfect dining experience.

To discover more about creating the perfect dining experience, view our ‘Top Tips for Restaurateurs’.