Quilon, London

41 Buckingham Gate
London
SW1E 6AF Map

http://www.thequilonrestaurant.com/

I guess its unfair to say that if Quilon didn't have a Michelin Star I would have enjoyed the meal more, but it's true. During my meal there, I was waiting for the "special something" that would put Quilon on par with Benares (which has a star) and above the Cinnamon Club (which doesn't) but it never arrived.

If, as Fay Mashler suggested in the Evening Standard, Michelin feel that they should give their stars to Asian restaurants to stave off criticism of a French bias, it really devalues their brand. Let us hope that this is not the case.

So, ratings aside, how was the food?

Well, on the whole it was good. I would recommend the egg paratha, which I can only describe as a paratha with an extremely thin omellete inside, and the mashed aubergine part of the Two Type Aubergine dish was excellent, but some other parts of the meal were disappointing - the poppadums tasted a bit stale and one of my fellow diners was very disappointed with his Avyal.

The rasam, that we were presented with between courses was very good - we all agreed on that.

The dessert menu was fairly uninspiring, and none of us were tempted.

The service was fine, a spilt drink was efficiently dealt with, and the food arrived quickly.

We had a good time, but there just wasn't that special something I've come to expect that lifts "starred" restaurants above the normal "run-of-the-mill" restaurant.