Forest Hill Babur’s 38th anniversary tasting menu: Review

Babur has been a long-standing restaurant in Forest Hill and this year marks its 38th anniversary since it first opened its doors.

I was invited to try their anniversary tasting menu, which features five different courses to celebrate their 38th year in business.

About Babur

Babur is a popular place and is always thronging with diners even on a weekday. They have a large menu and really put a lot of effort into curating seasonal menus with changing dishes.

The restaurant is well known for offering a unique menu which gives a creative and gourmet take on Indian cuisine.

Some of their dishes include a Swordfish tikka, Venison hunter curry and a Mango brûlée for dessert.

Although there will be some dishes you will be familiar with, this restaurant offers diners a unique experience to try something new.

Cocktails

Alongside their food menu, Babur also offers a large menu of cocktails, from classics to their own house specials inspired by Indian ingredients, with some named after the local area like the Honor Oak Manhattan.

Trying the Currytini at Babur (Image: Emily Davison)

I tried the Currytini, which is one of Babur’s most popular and longstanding drinks since the cocktail menu was first created in 2010.

The Currytini is a spicy and punchy mix of Bombay Sapphire Gin, fresh curry leaf, green chilli, dry vermouth and lime cordial.

This drink does have a kick and I could definitely taste those spicy undertones underneath the lime.

The Tasting Menu

The tasting menu features five different dishes with a mix of flavours and ingredients, including meat, fish and potato dishes and one dessert.

We first began with poppadoms and a selection of dips, which included one spicy dip, a classic mango chutney, a chilli dip, a garlic dip, and a ginger dip.

The menu features five dishes with a mix of vegetable and meat based dishes (Image: Emily Davison)

The first course we tried was the Litti chokha, charcoal roasted spiced aubergine and Madhubani fish, with pickled baby onion.

The dish had two small portions, one with a battered fish and a fresh pickled onion dip, and the other was what could be described as a battered aubergine patty.

Both had so much flavour and the pickled onion really went well with the flavours from the fish and the seasoning in the aubergine.

The second course was Tori ki tokri, stuffed courgette blossom.

This dish was a mix of ground vegetables stuffed into a courgette blossom.

The dish had a delicious cheesy flavour and it ended up being my favourite out of all the courses I tried.

It was paired with a glass of Peter Lehman 2019, which had a very fruity palette and really brought out those flavours in the food.

The third course (Image: Emily Davison)

The third course was a vegetarian dish of Arbi ki chaat, crispy sev and pomegranates.

I would describe this as a flat patty with a potato consistency that was battered and topped with pomegranates.

This dish had a bit more spice to it than the first two, and after trying the next dish I felt that this menu gradually acclimatises you to more spice as the meal goes on.

For the fourth and final savoury dish there are two options to choose from, in the form of either a lamb or a chicken curry.

You can choose between either a Dehati chicken with steamed rice or a Champaran gosht with lachha paratha.

I went for the Dehati chicken, which is a curry made with a host of ingredients including turmeric, red chilli, onion, garlic, black pepper and ginger.

Emily Davison (Image: Emily Davison)

It also came with a delicious turmeric rice. The meat had so much flavour and it wasn’t like any other curry I have tried before.

My plus one ended up trying the Champaran gosht, which was a lamb dish cooked in ghee with onions and ginger cooked in a buttery sauce.

The dish wasn’t quite as spicy as mine, so if you prefer something a little milder then this may be the one to go for.

It also came with a side of flatbread to dip in, unlike mine which had a side of rice.

Finally, we finished off with our dessert, which was condensed Lotus flower pudding, evaporated milk, green cardamon, rose and caramel.

It came with a really delicious dessert wine Passito di Pantelleria. It had a real floral taste which went well with the dessert.

The dessert had the consistency of rice pudding, with a compote on the side which had a real floral flavour.

The dessert was light and not every sweet after all the food. I’ll be honest, normally I prefer very sweet deserts, and this wouldn’t be my first choice.

But after so much food I did appreciate having something a little lighter to finish the meal off with.

All in all, I thought the menu had a fantastic variety of flavours and ingredients, and it was a great way to try so many different ingredients you may not have tried before.

I tried so many combinations of food that I would never have thought to order from looking at a menu, and it's one of the things I think makes Babur so unique.

I would highly recommend paying a visit the next time you find yourself craving a curry.

The tasting menu costs £54.95 per person, or £85.95 with wine parings, and will be available until September 17.