Mr Todiwala's Kitchen - Canary Wharf

Canary Wharf is notorious for having a lack of good restaurants given how much disposable cash there is sloshing around Docklands, so when Cyrus Todiwala of Café Spice Namasté announced a new outpost in E14, more than few business folk got excited.

And with good reason, for Mr Todiwala’s Kitchen is pretty impressive. High ceilings allow for plenty of wall hangings such as punkah-wallah fans and copper pans while a large, engraved wooden elephant dominates the space with character. 

The kitchen produced a seemingly effortless array of modern Indian dishes. We started with a crispy puffed puri dish, with crushed potatoes and chickpeas, that wasn’t too dissimilar to a spicy version of Rice Krispies, tempered by yoghurt and fresh green chutney. We followed this with an aromatic goat dolasa, a very delicate rice and lentil pancake.

Our next series of dishes included an exemplarily tender chicken tikka with sweet potatoes, and a pumpkin and carrot soup that made for a warming mid-meal consommé. The only let-down was a lamb bhuna curry that, while homely and satisfying, felt a bit boring compared to the other dishes we tried. Puddings were also hit and miss; we'd recommend the bebinca, a nutty pancake with Portuguese origins.

We washed our meal down with a cooling bottle of IPA made specifically for the restaurant – typical of a venture that brings a refreshingly individual spirit to chain-dominated Canary Wharf.  

Chef Cyrus Todiwala, who is the man behind Café Spice Namasté in East London, has now branched out to this restaurant found inside the Lincoln Plaza London hotel (the restaurant has its own entrance).

Guarded by a huge elephant statue, the double-height dining room is decorated in bright blues, oranges and reds, finished off by hanging displays of copper pots, and shelves dotted with Indian knick-knacks mismatched furniture.

The menu at Mr Todiwala’s is inspired by Indian street food, with dishes to try including chargrilled and skewered salmon, which is marinated in green chutney, and a 21-ingredient beef curry. If you’re struggling to decide between dishes, you can opt for the tasting menus instead, including the five-course Kitchen Menu or the multi-course Gourmand option.