Masterclass at La Porte des Indes

We don’t frequent the top-end Indian restaurants in central London very often but occasionally we’ll allow ourselves an extravagant meal. La Porte des Indes, just by Marble Arch station, is one of our favourites, particularly for its Sunday buffet lunch, along with Tamarind and Bombay Brasserie.
From the outside one might remark how ordinary the restaurant looks but the doors open up to a remarkable vista. It’s set on two floors with a waterfall along one of the stairwells. The walls are adorned by original (we were told by the executive head chef) Mughal paintings from the owner’s personal collections. The interiors are full of marble and stone brought from India.

Sue and I had signed up to the monthly Masterclass which essentially comprised an hour and a half spent in the company of the head chef, demonstrating cooking a three course meal, wine pairings, a tour of the kitchens and afterwards a three course meal. After arriving and a welcome drink executive head chef Mehermosh Mody took us initially around the kitchens. This tour was around 15-20 minutes, and the highlights were a look at the 3 tandoori ovens, with another chef making a variety of breads (we tasted some of those fresh out of the oven), the large pans bubbling away with curries, and the stone spice grinders, imported from India. At that point there weren’t meals being prepared for lunch so the kitchens were fairly quiet. We were both impressed with the sense of order although this wasn’t in the midst of service, and it was probably quite cool for that reason. What struck me was the small size of the kitchen and how so many chefs would be able to work in such a confined space making food of the highest order.
After the kitchen tour we sat down in one of main rooms downstairs opposite a makeshift demonstration kitchen. We had to wait a few minutes while another group went on their kitchen tour.

Soon the executive head chef returned and began the cooking demonstration with the help of an assistant.

The three dishes this month were:
PARSEE FISH - Fillets of sole encased in a mint and coriander chutney and lightly steamed in banana leaves.
SAAG KHUMB - Leaf spinach and field mushrooms sautéed with chillies, ginger and fenugreek.
ROSE PHIRNEE - A delicious pudding with rose petal conserve, crushed basmati rice and cream.

These dishes were fairly simple to demonstrate, and delicious for us to taste. What most participants benefited from was the tips that Mehermosh gave out such as the right oils to use, and how to use spices most effectively. He also told us that it was important to try local ingredients with Indian spices – for example by using local lemon sole rather than imported pomfret for fish dishes. Spices were passed around to enable us to take in the aromas.
Before the completed dishes were passed around for us to taste the wine expert talked a little about each wine and wines generally before offering a sample with the prepared dishes. With the Parsee fish a Constantia Sauvignon Blanc from South Africa was chosen. For Sue and myself New World Sauvignon Blanc is a favourite, and the Constantia was a solid compliment to the fish, while the finish was perhaps not as intense as other Sauvignons. The wine expert chose a rose from the Rioja region of Spain to accompany the khumb saag. This wine was quite fruity and again complimented the dish well. We did not get to sample the prepared rice pudding.

After the demonstration we went upstairs for lunch. The service was perhaps not as impressive as during Sunday lunch as we seemed to have been forgotten a couple of times. Lunch was best described as a tasting menu with crab, lamb sheekh kebab, and dahl puri as starters. For mains it was a fish curry, chicken curry, and a vegetable stir fry, together with rice, raita, and naan. The desserts were a selection including chocolate mousse and the rice pudding we had seen prepared earlier. Having heard Mehermosh and the wine expert expounding the qualities of Indian wine we, slightly experimentally, chose an Indian Sauvignon Blanc to accompany our meal, but in retrospect selecting a New World wine might have been wiser.

Overall the Masterclass was a very enjoyable experience but perhaps it should not be billed as a “Masterclass”; “An Introduction to.....” might be better billing. Sue and I are not novices at cooking and Indian cooking in particular and we learnt relatively little about the principles of Indian cooking, spices and herbs. We felt most of the other participants were looking for an introduction, and did not cook Indian food at home. Unfortunately a couple of the participants kept asking rather simple, facile questions spoiling it for us - clearly not the restaurant’s fault. [I hope this doesn’t sound mean, but it really is an eye-opener how people living in a city like London can still exist in such a separate world. To almost every unfamiliar spice or ingredient came the question, ‘Can you get it in Selfridges?’ and Southall seemed somewhere they had never ever heard of].
I would rather have spent the £55 per person (which included lunch and Mehermosh Mody's cookbook) cost on Sunday buffet lunch. If you are looking for good value cooking courses I would recommend Jamie Oliver’s Recipease (www.jamieoliver.com/recipease) which has a range of cooking classes aimed at different levels and perfect for introducing oneself to new cuisines. Despite this experience I am sure we will be returning for Sunday buffet lunch at La Porte des Indes on many occasions in the future.

La Porte des Indes - 32 Bryanston Street, London W1H 7EG. Tel: 020 7224 0055