This Indian restaurant provides a unique and subtle twist on the usual Indian fare and serves it all up in a stunning and trendy environment.

The Venue
Situated on Haymarket, close to Piccadilly Circus tube station, Mint Leaf oozes sexiness from every nook and every cranny. Dark, moody and inviting with lots of bamboo-style shutters to provide a type of French Indochinese feel to the place.

Copious amounts of mood lighting together with dark brushed woods and leather back seating enhance the George Clooney-like good looks of this restaurant. There is also an additional large room which would be ideal for private functions and business affairs. The attractive and infamous long bar is also worth a mention – it serves over 500 different spirits and over a staggering 1000 cocktails, so it’s certainly worth a peak before sitting down to eat.

The Atmosphere
Expect to see loads of men and women attempting to impress their hot dates, as this is a people gazer’s paradise. Lots of couples mix in with the successful businessmen and women and the movers and shakers of the capital to enjoy a thoroughly enthralling dining experience.

The Food
Mint Leaf’s menu has a large variety of tapas-style dishes and sharing platters, which complements the swanky, almost club-like atmosphere at the restaurant. Plates are available in large (£8 - £20) or small (£4 - £10) whilst the tasting platters range from £15 - £23. Curries, sides, biryanis and rice are available on the menu as well.

The food available is mainly Indian with a bit of a modern, creative edge. The scallops are soft and buttery, with a kick of pepper, and the mango and peanut salad accompaniment is fresh and tangy. Vegetarians will be pleased to know that the paneer is top notch: circles of firm and subtle paneer are stuffed with rose petal confit and tart, sweet pineapple chutney, served hidden in a banana leaf. However, the rabbit loin is a bit of a low note, as strangely shaped tubes of the meat both look and taste a bit too sausage-y for rabbit, and the texture seems a bit uneven.

Other dishes include succulent chunks of braised lobster in a spicy and creamy yellow coconut sauce resting on thin, round discs of upma – moist cakes made from wheat with a porridge-like consistency. The chicken thigh (one of the curries on the menu, made with free range chicken) is tender and juicy, served in a little pot with a mild yoghurt sauce and accompanied by garlic naan and rice wrapped in a banana leaf cone. The duck leg confit is actually a salad – served in a poppadom cup – of shredded duck meat mixed with lentils, scallions and star anise. Desserts have just the same creative twist on traditional favourites: jalebi (sugary fried batter) is turned into an apple fritter, with slices of the fruit covered with the crisp coating and served with a sharp and unusual saffron sugar syrup.

The Drink
With an impressive range of over 140 wines Mint Leaf really know how to put a display on in the drinks world. Producers cover South Africa, South America, Australia and France. From the list of white wines, the 2007 Deviation Road Pinos Gris from Adelaide Hills, Australia, is sweet but bold, whilst the 2006 Conundrum from Monterey, California has a well-rounded flavour that goes particularly well with seafood. Reds include a 2006 Migration Pinot Noir and a 2005 Duckhorn Decoy, also from California.

The Last Word
Mint Leaf is aesthetically pleasing and with a unique concept on Indian cooking to boot, this venue will no doubt gain momentum as time goes by.

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