Riwaz By Atul Kochhar. Brilliant Beaconsfield Indian Fine Dining

Andy Mossack enjoys an Indian Sunday Lunch Tasting Menu at Riwaz by Atul Kochhar.

Beaconsfield. The pearl of Buckinghamshire and the quintessential country town for London commuter toffs. Old town leafy lanes lined with mock Tudor mansions, gardens landscaped to perfection and symmetrised lawn stripes edged with scissor-like accuracy.

I would say the perfect location for upscale restaurants to show themselves off to Beaconsfield’s well-heeled residents. None more so perhaps than Riwaz by Atul Kochhar, a multi-Michelin starred chef who knows a thing or two about location with a string of successful restaurants around London’s posh home counties including Marlow, Petts Wood and Wembley.

Even though the 7- course tasting menu is available all week I decided to try it for a Sunday lunch as with no parking restrictions we could park almost right outside. Rejoice. There are vegetarian, vegan, and pescatarian versions of it, as well as 2 and 3 course set meals and a full la cart menu.

There’s something of a rustic alehouse look to the place, perhaps a throwback to Beaconsfield’s coaching past, but once you’re in the welcoming embrace of the restaurant team, the air of sophisticated dining is very much front and centre. As is the semi open kitchen, where in a well-oiled regimen, plated works of art patiently await delivery.

First up was a chef selection of two street snacks. A delicate crispy chickpea pakora perched on a bed of tamarind sauce and topped with sweet yoghurt and pomegranate seeds. And sitting across from it looking like a small volcano was a spicy potato and pea samosa overflowing with tamarind and pea lava. Two delicious morsels that for me showcased the diversity of authentic Indian street food.

A very good start.

Hot on the heels of the street duo came tempura Tangra prawns. Delightfully fresh and crispy with a tangy sweet chilli sauce and sprinkled spring onion. My dining partner was not a lover of prawns, so her dish was replaced with paneer shapta, generous chunks of tandoori baked paneer cheese coated with a spicy shapta sauce and tossed with bell peppers. Sensational flavours and freshly off the hob.

By now Riwaz by Atul Kochhar was filling up with a Sunday lunch crowd that seemed to be mainly regular locals judging by the many warm greetings being banded about. Always a good sign.

No time to ponder about this anymore as our next course was triumphantly delivered held high like trophies. A quite wonderful Achari salmon which consisted of a seared slice of Scottish salmon marinaded with achar the Urdu word for pickle, and in this case a mango achar. It came accompanied by a dollop of mango sauce and a pickled onion topped with caviar. Beautifully cooked salmon wonderfully paired with the tangy mango.

There is no doubting by now Kochhar’s relentless obsession with individual flavours, a feat many Indian restaurants fail to pull off.

Our fourth course comprised a duo of chicken tikka chunks; one a Punjabi style and the other a Malai. The Punjabi was made with classic tikka paste, the other with a yoghurt marinade, startlingly white compared with its counterpart. A crunchy onion salad and some mint sauce formed the accoutrements. Two quite different tikkas but equally delicious.

Before our main course, a short pause ensued courtesy of a refreshing homemade raspberry sorbet which proved to be an excellent palette cleanser.

The tasting menu main staple was Nihari Gosht, a classic Indian morning stew. Two generous Romney Marsh lamb chops melt in the mouth slow cooked, with roast potatoes and a nihari sauce which my dining partner devoured. Perhaps a true Indian Sunday lunch after all?

I on the other hand decided to add a dish from the £14.95 supplement choices of which there were two. A Lobster Mailee which was a clay oven cooked lobster tail in a moilee sauce and mustard potato, or my choice, Melagu Mattirachi a spicy Scottish rib eye steak with pepper sauce, and masala mash. Both of our dishes were served with a pot of classic black dal makhani, some pilau rice and buttered naan.

The mains were a triumph and well deserving of their headline billing. As tasting menus go this was a lot of food, and we still had our dessert dish to come.

Having called a ten-minute truce to recover we dived back into our last course – a divine chocolate mousse topped with cardamon cream and blueberries with a spread of fresh honey.

So finally ended our Riwaz by Atul Kochhar tasting menu, certainly a journey of discovery, but above all some outstanding Indian fine dining and excellent value for money.

I have no doubt the Beaconsfield hoi polloi would be retiring to their Tudor mansions feeling very satisfied they have such a great dining destination on their well-heeled doorstep.

All images (C) Andy Mossack