Gymkhana, a contemporary Indian restaurant that opened in central London last year, has won what could be considered the most prestigious of all the UK’s restaurant awards.

The restaurant beat London’s best known restaurants to win the first place on the National Restaurant Awards Top 100 list, based on the votes of 150 chefs, restaurateurs, and critics from across the country who select the best seven restaurants they’ve been to in the past year.

It’s the first time an Indian restaurant has topped the list, which is normally dominated by British and European fine dining. “It’s a truly national picture of the restaurant industry,” Stefan Chomka, editor of Restaurant , the magazine behind the awards, told BL .

Gymkhana, located in Mayfair and themed around the old Raj-era clubs, was set up by Karam Sethi, a restaurateur behind Trishna, a popular Michelin starred seafood restaurant also in central London.

Gymkhana opened to rave reviews last year, with its choice of dishes and willingness to stick to more adventurous dishes, helping it stand apart from the numerous high-end Indian restaurants that have opened in London over the years. Its Kid Goat Methi Keema, for example, attracted much attention with the option of adding brain to the dish.

“I have now eaten more than 25 of the 35 savoury dishes on offer and every single one was utterly, utterly out of this world,” raved The Times critic Giles Cora, who described it as the “tastiest food” he had ever eaten. Bemoaning the spread of fine dining Indian food that was “painfully dull” The Guardian’s Jay Rayner described Gymkhana as “glossy” but delivering with “a serious kick and intent.” “The food is more punchy. It’s more gutsy,” Chomka said. “It’s the food you’d see in a curry house but in a more refined way. I wouldn’t be surprised if it started a trend for Asian restaurants to look back at their menus and say we don’t have to sanitise and Anglicise. There is definitely an appetite for more interesting food in the UK.”

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