Kanishka Lights Up Mayfair: Atul Kochhar’s Modern Indian Table Heads Into Diwali
At Kanishka by Atul Kochhar, modern Indian dining in Mayfair is less about rewriting tradition than travelling through it. Founded by twice Michelin starred chef Atul Kochhar and now led alongside Executive Chef Ashok Kumar, the Maddox Street restaurant draws on regional Indian cooking, historic spice routes and seasonal British produce, with a new Diwali tasting menu offering a timely reason to explore it all again.
India, via Maddox Street
There are easier ways to describe Indian food than Kanishka has chosen. Since opening in March 2019, the Mayfair restaurant has deliberately looked beyond the familiar, originally taking much of its inspiration from India’s Northeastern frontier and the culinary connections formed along historic trading routes. Today, that idea has expanded into something more broadly pan-Indian: a menu that moves freely between regions while retaining the contemporary touch that has defined Atul Kochhar’s cooking in Britain for more than three decades.
The name itself nods to Kanishka, the Kushan emperor whose rule connected territories across India and Central Asia – a fitting reference point for a restaurant interested in what happens when cultures, ingredients and techniques collide.
Kochhar, of course, has spent much of his career widening the conversation around Indian food in Britain. He became the first Indian chef to receive a Michelin star in 2001 while at Tamarind, before earning another at Benares in 2007. At Kanishka, he works alongside Executive Chef Ashok Kumar, appointed to the role in 2023 after years working within Kochhar’s restaurants. The result is cooking that rarely feels tied to one geographical lane.
British produce, Indian perspective
Look across Kanishka’s current à la carte menu and that philosophy becomes fairly obvious. There is Jalpari Nilgiri, pairing hand-dived Orkney scallops with Nilgiri herbs, curry leaf, seaweed furikake and caviar; Bhuni Macchi, where Chettinad-spiced monkfish meets coconut-creamed leeks; and Rara Gosht, bringing Lake District lamb into a deeply spiced braised curry alongside a lamb chop and crisp potato and leek bhaji.
And then there is perhaps Kochhar’s most playful crossover: the Chicken Tikka Pie. Pastry and spiced chicken might sound like an unlikely ambassador for contemporary Indian dining, but it neatly encapsulates what Kanishka does best. Rather than treating British ingredients or formats as decoration, Kochhar folds them into Indian flavour profiles until the dividing line becomes rather less important.
The same thinking carries into the restaurant’s seven-course tasting menu. Halibut is partnered with watercress moilee and tapioca pearls, while a Lamb Wellington wraps Romney Marsh lamb and mushroom in pastry before finishing the dish with a rich rogan jus. It is recognisable, but rarely predictable.
A brighter table for Diwali
That makes Kanishka’s forthcoming Diwali offering particularly well suited to the restaurant. Rather than simply gathering together celebratory Indian favourites, the dedicated tasting menu uses the occasion to push further into the British-Indian dialogue that already runs through the kitchen.
The meal begins with the chef’s selection of snacks before a choice between Khasta Murgh – Kochhar’s signature chicken tikka pie accompanied by cumin-spiked mixed berry chutney – and Artichoke Malvani Tikka, bringing Malvani spices to a tandoori globe artichoke with sprouted mung bean.
Then comes perhaps the menu’s most eye-catching meeting of ingredients: Orkney scallop with caramelised apple and ginger purée, Exmoor caviar and sunflower seeds. British seafood continues with coconut-marinated Chalkstream trout, served alongside a Devon crab croquette and coconut sauce, while the principal meat course brings together fennel and star anise-marinated Romney lamb cutlet, kohlrabi, cavolo nero and jus.
Vegetarian alternatives have been given the same level of attention rather than treated as an afterthought. Jackfruit comes with Cambodian black pepper and garlic cream cheese, while fig-stuffed paneer tikka is paired with kohlrabi, cavolo nero and korma.
The finale is suitably celebratory: a Mithai Platter of rasmalai with saffron-poached pear, dark chocolate mousse and almond fudge.
The Diwali tasting menu is currently listed at £120 per person, with an £80 wine pairing. An early-evening version is also available for £95 per person between 5pm and 6.30pm, Monday to Saturday.
More than one region
The seasonal menu also fits into something Kanishka has been doing particularly well throughout 2026: using special dinners to zoom in on individual corners of Indian cooking.
A 'Taste of Kerala' arrived in April, Goa followed in July and Chennai became the focus in August, complementing a wider programme that has previously explored Punjab alongside chef collaborations and supper clubs. It gives the restaurant an identity beyond simply being another polished Indian dining room in Mayfair.
India’s food culture is too broad to compress neatly into a handful of dishes, and Kanishka seems increasingly comfortable embracing that fact. One visit might involve the coconut and coastal flavours of southern India; another could lean towards Northeast Indian traditions, tandoor cooking or the richer curries of Delhi. There is always movement to it.
Spice routes, cocktails and Mayfair polish
That sense of journey continues outside the kitchen. Kanishka’s interiors draw loosely on the restaurant’s Silk Route inspiration, while the bar picks up the same thread through cocktails influenced by Indian flavours and botanicals. Whisky is particularly prominent, with both neat pours and cocktails available alongside pairing suggestions designed for the food.
Yet for all the Mayfair polish, the food remains the more interesting part of the equation. Kanishka works because it does not present Indian cuisine as something static. Regional recipes can be explored, adapted and paired with ingredients grown or landed thousands of miles away without losing sight of where the ideas began.
With Diwali approaching, that philosophy feels especially pertinent. This is a festival defined by light, generosity and gathering around food – and on Maddox Street, Kanishka is using it to illuminate just how broad the modern Indian table can be.
