Kingdom of flavours

Southern French food with an Indian connection, old-school dim sum, local sausage, wines that surprise. London’s dining-out scene is vibrant as ever

- VIR SANGHVI

I went to London for three days to attend a meeting. No matter what I did, I was never too far from India. I stayed at 51 Buckingham Gate, the apartments only hotel run by the Taj, next to the group’s St. James Court Hotel. I first stayed there in 1987, when it had just opened, which, I guess, makes me one of their oldest regulars. The complex has seen its ups and downs, but a string of very good general managers (Prabhat Verma, Digvijay Singh and now Mehrnavaz Avari) have turned it into my favourite place in London.

On my first night in London, I went to the recently opened Socca. This is a Southern French restaurant, where the chef is Claude Bosi, a culinary heavyweight who has two Michelin stars at Bibendum, his other restaurant. Socca is a sort of La Petite Maison for grown-ups who want good food, not just a Riviera vibe. And of course, Claude’s food (which I first tried many years ago at Hibiscus) is terrific. We had perfectly fried courgette flowers, the eponymous socca (a sort of besan chilla) the last of the season’s English asparagus, a tart lentil salad, oysters, carpaccio, snails and an intense beef cheek with golden shoe-string fries.

Here too, I found an Indian connection. Claude’s old Hibiscus is now Bombay Bustle, a fun restaurant owned by Samyukta Nair, granddaughter of the legendary Captain Nair, who founded the Leela hotel chain. Samyukta also owns Socca along with Claude, and runs three other London restaurants.