On a chilly gray January Wednesday moving into the Sycamore Vino Cucina from the bustle of Covent Backyard was the proper antidote to beat these winter blues and keep true to any wholesome resolutions that will have been made.
We’re right here to expertise the conscious and mood-boosting menu from Government Chef Gary Lee (previously of The Ivy Restaurant and Joe Allens) and Ayurveda knowledgeable Mira Manek. The 2 culinary creatives mix their experience to serve up dishes designed for optimum well being advantages while that includes the best of the season’s providing. This wholesome new providing has been impressed by hero recipes from Mira’s common vegetarian Indian cookbook, Saffron Soul.
The restaurant is heat and busy regardless of being mid-week with a formidable leaf ceiling set up and a very good wine record for these indulging. The open kitchen allowed us to see chef Gary and his staff in motion.
We have been welcomed with chai smoothies (Mira has her personal chai model Chai by Mira) and kombucha earlier than sitting right down to expertise warming Indian flavours in mild and healthful dishes.
Every dish on the menu has been crafted with spices famed for his or her mood-boosting properties and has been tailored by the Cooks to go away diners feeling their highest – while having loved a scrumptious meal too!
Sycamore Vino Cucina’s Government Chef, Gary Lee, says: “Our friends will expertise a variety that has been created to thrill and revitalise to allow them to begin the yr feeling their greatest. 5 dishes have been fastidiously designed by Mira, my staff, and I to ship most flavour and freshness from nightfall to daybreak.”
The “DIY Daal” was an enormous hit – wholesome lentil soup served with totally different toppings to layer on relying on private style, my private favorite was the flaked contemporary coconut. I may have eaten a a lot bigger serving however was glad I had room for our subsequent programs. This nutrient-rich DIY dish encourages friends to good their ultimate daal with tadka spices, chutneys, and croutons. Lentils are filled with tryptophan, an amino acid that the physique makes use of to make mood-stabiliser serotonin, additionally containing B vitamin folate, which can be wanted to provide the chemical messenger – only one instance (of many!) how meals actually is gasoline for the physique and thoughts.
The sharing “Buddha Bowl’ was a mix of evenly seasoned grilled greens with a herb dipping sauce, cauliflower rice mixed with all of the wholesome goodness of seeds and greens, avocado and corn, and a scrumptious aubergine and pomegranate dish. This was so good we went in for seconds (and thirds!)
Dessert was a turmeric chai served with a contemporary date, almond butter and raspberries dish which we managed to search out room for. The right candy deal with to finish with.
The dishes on this menu are designed to herald Indian spices in a wholesome and lighter manner, leaving us feeling revitalised, filled with goodness and bursting with mood-boosting properties. I can say that is positively the case and I’m heading out of winter with numerous new recommendations on the right way to convey these parts to my on a regular basis cooking.
