287. Lasan.

 

  According to the records of my dining companion at the time, the last occasion I ate at Lasan in James Street in the Jewellery Quarter was 21 May 2012. Clearly this was going to be a long delayed second visit. Back then, Lasan had been featured in a Gordon Ramsay television series and won some sort of award in it and more notably, Aktar Islam was Head Chef there then. 

  I remember having an enjoyable evening there apart from there being a very noisy table of men out on the town and doubtless ‘out for a curry’ but my friend, always grudging in praise and able to carry adverse criticism to atmospheric heights of disagreeability, noted that he had had his “worst meal of the year” there (though the year was less than half way through). He was disparaging about the soft shell crab dish for which Islam had won the fish course in one series of The Great British Menu; his main of monkfish, he claimed, was ‘not cooked’ properly and felt that the accompanying sauce overwhelmed the flavour of the fish and he did not like his dessert of halva. To round things off in his uniquely curmudgeonly way he noted that the service there was “poor”. His problem with food is that he much prefers analysing it rather than eating it. Indeed he very much has “a lean and hungry look” and in the words of Caesar, “such men are dangerous” (especially it seems to chefs and restaurateurs). His own cooking, by the way, is not as good as he believes it to be.

  So ten years later I returned, this time with an altogether kinder and more appreciative dining companion. From both the street and indoors the restaurant is impressive - smart, spacious and shining with an added veneer of discreet rusticity contributed by the numerous little wall decorations and artifacts scattered around. The menu presented to us was a little grubby and needed refreshing. 

  We were served a delightful little prawn puri as an appetiser and we also ordered some poppadoms and chutneys which were enjoyable. As starters, my dining companion was delighted with his Sarson king prawns and my choice of Bihari beef kebab gave me great pleasure. 

  For my main course I chose Methi chicken. The chicken was somewhat overcooked and my taste buds felt assailed by the flavour of tomato and were not aware of the desired taste of fenugreek. My dining companion chose Makhan chicken which was altogether more successful I thought (though again the chicken was over) - if anything the flavour of tomato was less evident than in my dish which made me think for a moment that we had been served the wrong dishes but my companion pointed out that the flavour of cashew was very discernible in his Makhan which was as it should have been. We ate our dishes with shared rice and Peshwari naan.

  

  We were replete and did not feel that we would delve into Lasan’s choice of desserts, assuming there was one. This had been a satisfactory meal in pleasant surroundings but it had not been faultless. 

  Rating:- 🌛🌛.