Karma, W14

Karma
44 Blythe Road W14
020 7602 9333

www.k-a-r-m-a.co.uk

Above: Karma

Karma certainly smells good from the street. It’s a stylish, minimalist-looking Indian restaurant that aspires to high quality dishes from all over the subcontinent with a strong Goan slant. Widely praised for its classy food, Karma is keen to set itself apart from the regular neighbourhood curry house.
For a start, it’s very smart inside, all muted shades and starched linen. The menu’s exensive and features lots of festive dishes and a lot of fish, not the usual staples.
We were impressed by tasty popadoms and delicious dips, which arrived soon after we did. Our appetites whet, we were disappointed to wait for ages for the next instalment, despite the restaurant being near empty. The only things to emerge from the kitchen were packaged food parcels destined for the fleet of waiting scooters outside and as present diners, we felt it unfair to prioritise take-away customers over us. Still, starters, when they did arrive, were tasty. A mixed platter contained unusual feta samosas, crispy lentil dumplings, delicious barbecued chicken marinated in coriander, mint and spinach and some juicy, spicy lamb chops. After another wait, a spread of main courses included a parsee wedding dish of lamb and dried apricots cooked with chilli, cinnamon and coriander, chicken vindaloo that’s not the usual fiery mix but a traditional Goan sweet and sour, tamarind-infused dish, fish coated with herbs, highly aromatic lemon rice and an impressive stuffed nan with cheese, spring onion and green chilli. All worth the wait.