“Happy happies! Go forth and feast…”
I’m very open about my love for Bandook Kitchen, the highly-acclaimed Mint Room’s playful little sister at the heart of Bath’s Milsom Place ‘Quarter’.
You can read all about how much and why I love BK in this review, published last year: “I love the restaurant’s style, audacity and overall vibe,” I wrote; “I love how it’s filled a big gap in the Bath eating out scene by blending upper-crust modern Indian dining with a casual, welcoming, affordable ethos that’s effortlessly uplifting, and unselfconsciously soul-soothing.”
Clickety-click on that review link and you’ll also get a bit of Bandook Kitchen history, and its sense of place on the Bath food and drink scene — oh go on, take a look, if only to save me repeating myself here.
I revisit BK on a regular basis: on date nights (yes, we still have date nights, almost two decades on from our very first date night), or with friends, or simply on those evenings when I just can’t be bothered to cook. As of fairly recently, I can even go there for breakfast; why have a bacon buttie when you can have a Kolkata Breakfast Roll?
So, while Bandook Kitchen is most definitely for life and not just for Christmas, there’s currently yet more reason to be cheerful here as the restaurant has supplemented their a la carte menu with a Festive Feast (£45pp) that kicks traditional festive formats to the kerb and thoroughly revitalises jaded British palates in a way that only BK can; heck, they’ve even worked their magic on turkey! Meanwhile, if you’ve yet to wise up to the fact that BK is also one of Bath’s best cocktail hotspots, this is your moment — and if you make the most of that moment with a Mumbai Winters (Single Malt Talisker, Campari Liqueur, orange and lime juice, sugar syrup) from the Christmas Cocktail menu, I guarantee that you won’t regret it.
If Christmas is all about the glam, the glitter, and the sparkle, BK has it nailed from the get-go. Milsom Place itself is a winter wonderland right now (there’s even a proper Christmas Grotto at the epicentre of the beautifully-decorated proceedings) and BK’s dishes go large on presentation bling.
We started our Festive Feast with Pani Puri: crispy little semolina shell baubles ready to be filled with tantalising Jal Jeera water (there’s definitely mint, cumin, ginger, chilli, salt and something fruity in the mix, and cumin, and maybe citrus too?) and downed in one… or broken midway between plate and mouth, sending shards of shell all over the table and Jal Jeera all down your top (or maybe that’s just me.)
Etiquette crisis over, we moved on to a lively, vibrant, Mango Salad: slivers of mango, peppers and carrots muddled with onions and chilli and topped with a mango and lemon dressing. You know how we all tend to think that Christmas menus have nothing to do with salad? Think again.
And oh, behold the glorious prettiness of the Samosa Chaat: a ‘deconstructed Punjabi vegetable samosa’ topped with lightly curried chickpeas and thick yoghurt, drizzled and dotted hither and thither will all manner of jewel-coloured dots and drizzles including pomegranate seeds that always, always make me go “oooh!”.
We slid in a plate of squid too, because we just can’t ‘do’ BK without ‘doing’ the Squid Koliwada: crisp mollusc morsels tossed around on waves of spice, onion and peppers, a dish with which a drink (by this time I’d moved on to the French 75 cocktail) really is too wet without one.
Now I’m not saying that any of the build-up dishes were stocking fillers — far from it. But we were poised to fill our boots with the main event, Awadhi Lamb Shank Biryani: a huge, glorious medley of pastry-topped, long’n’slow lamb shank (a turkey version is also available, trad-fans) falling off the bone into a rich broth of soporific spice-infused gravy and aromatic rice. As if that’s not enough in itself, the decadent dish is served with a supporting cast including a thick, creamy Hyderabadi-style Burani Raita, Daal Panchmel, Kurkurit Bhindi (aka super-crispy okra), Jakhiya Aloo (that’s the spuds taken care of, then), nutty, spicy, tamarind-infused Mirch Salan, saffron-infused Sheermal Paratha and garlic and chive naan. Complex, attention-grabbing and dramatic; fascinating, filling, fabulous: phew!
No really, we couldn’t possibly have pudding. Yes actually, we really did: moist Christmas Pudding, laden with fruit and spices; light and creamy Ginger Creme Brulee, that I thought I wouldn’t be able to manage but lapped up like a cat who discovers where the cream has been hidden on Christmas eve.
Bandook Kitchen has the kind of effervescent sparkle that makes you feel as though it’s Christmas every day all year round courtesy of menus that are just as uplifting on, say, a drizzly lunch time in March, or a balmy summer evening. But at this time of the year, it ups the festive ante with unique, magical flavours served in fairytale surroundings.
Happy happies indeed! Now go forth and feast…
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