Review: Yaatra Restaurant & Bar
The beautiful Edwardian Old Westminster Fire Station is a suitable home for the smart Yaatra restaurant. Matching the style of the fire station building, it’s colourful and neat, like it belongs in a Wes Anderson film, with ornate flourishes to keep the eyes fed with curiosity.
But, we move on from our eyes and towards something more pressing: our appetites. Don’t be alarmed if yours doubles at reading the menu - there is nothing on there that doesn’t sound ridiculously delicious. I think the best choice, to save our heads from spinning, is to leave the decisions up to Executive Chef Amit Bagyal, who has designed a tasting menu with paired wines from their wine buyer, Nick Smith.
The wine list is a treasure trove of Old World and New World favourites, with some really slick selections peppered with fabulous and reliable producers. A Pfaffl Grüner Veltiner next to a Yealands Pinot Gris; Mirabeau’s Pure Provence rosé shares page space with some great offerings from South Africa and Argentina, as well as the classics like Chablis and Grand Cru St-Emilion. It’s a pretty perfect list and reasonably priced too, with bottles starting at £35.
Some excellent pairings include Pikes’ Hills and Valleys Riesling with the crispy basket of chaat, and a Brouilly Pisse-Vieille from Domaine Lathuiliere Gravallon with grilled chicken in a mushroom sauce. The fresh, clean Riesling has a touch of the tropical and those mango notes pair effortlessly with the coconut butter and citrus crumb of the chaat, while the Brouilly’s bramble fruit and tree bark tannins are made for the earthiness of the chicken dish, which has a sensational spike of sharpness coming from tiny bright red pickled mushrooms.
The main event on the tasting menu is an incredible slow-cooked goat osso buco in turmeric and ginger sauce, which is paired with a juicy, pruney Mendoza Malbec from Marchiori & Barraud. Whether you love reds with spice to enhance the heat or prefer something cool and off-dry to temper it, this Malbec is soft and ripe enough to be chums with the fiery goat. In any case, everything becomes sweetness and light at the end of the meal, with a very decent Moscato d'Asti DOCG (Fratelli Antonio e Raimondo) and a heavenly serving of carrot halwa cheesecake with pistachio ice cream.
Dining at Yaatra really is, as they say, a journey through India, but the wine list is a voyage across oceans. It is a captivating combination and certainly one to tempt you into an old red-brick fire station in the heart of Westminster.
See my pictures on my Instagram post here.