Flavour of the Week: Gunpowder

Gunpowder is a home-style Indian kitchen that showcases the vibrant, bold flavours of the subcontinent though responsibly sourced ingredients

Gunpowder is a home-style Indian kitchen that showcases the vibrant, bold flavours of the subcontinent though responsibly sourced ingredients

Gunpowder is a home-style Indian kitchen that showcases the vibrant, bold flavours of the subcontinent though responsibly sourced ingredients

Gunpowder is a home-style Indian kitchen that showcases the vibrant, bold flavours of the subcontinent though responsibly sourced ingredients

Gunpowder is a home-style Indian kitchen that showcases the vibrant, bold flavours of the subcontinent though responsibly sourced ingredients

Gunpowder is a home-style Indian kitchen that showcases the vibrant, bold flavours of the subcontinent though responsibly sourced ingredients

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What's the draw

With each new opening, Spitalfields is fast becoming one of the most essential neighbourhoods in the capital for innovative restaurants. This modern Indian tucked away in a tiny room off Artillery Lane, exemplifies why.

What to drink

We started our Indian journey with a Pani Puri margarita – a deliciously savoury piece of alchemy, built around tequila and Cointreau, with heady tamarind water and a salty spice rim. There are five or six equally interesting cocktails on the menu, too, although the wine and beer lists are on the compact side.

What to eat

This isn't curry-house fare – the dishes aim high, don't rely on sauce, and are best ordered to share. Meat and fish dishes – such as succulent kashmiri lamb-chops and tender, flaky maach fish marinated in mustard and steamed banana leaf – impressed, but, refreshingly, the vegetable dishes stole the show: the very first dish of the night, crispy aloo chaat (fried potato) topped with sour-sweet yoghurt and drenched in spicy oil, was glorious, and the simple half broccoli roasted in mustard, showed that ambition doesn't always equal complexity. An absolute treat.

Dinner, drinks and service for two: around £70. gunpowderlondon.com