Hawkyns Restaurant, Amersham - Restaurant Review

Cuisine: Indian
Style Points: 4/5
Location: Amersham, London
Price: ££
Overall: 5/5

Covid-19 Safety Measures:

• All staff and guests wear masks indoors

• Hand sanitiser available in the bar and restaurant

• Social distancing in place

Atul Kochhar is one of my favourite chefs and I’ve had the pleasure of dining both at Sindhu in Marlow too. Located in the London suburb of Amersham, Hawkyns had been on my restaurant wish list for a long time!

The restaurant is housed in the Crown Inn Hotel, a historic coaching inn constructed with beautiful ancient timber frames. As a result, Hawkyns has a cosy and inviting vibe and although the dining space itself is small, it holds quite a few tables which when occupied generates a warm buzz about the place. 

The Food?

When eating at fine-dining venues I find the Tasting Menus always offer the best overview of the finest dishes on the menu and this is exactly what I tried at Hawkyns. 

Our Tasting Menu started with a delicate amuse bouche, which was a spongy dhokra served with chutney. This whet our appetite for the rest of the menu as it was a great introduction to the spices and flavours that were on show in the rest of the menu. 

The first course was the Samosa Chaat, a classic samosa served with mint and tamarind chutney sweet yogurt. Chaats are my absolute favourite Indian street food dish because I love the combination of sweet chutney and crispy samosas, and this dish recreated all those flavours so well!

Next on the menu was Meen Moilee, pan fried sea bass with masala mash and coconut moliee sauce. I’d never tried sea bass with coconut sauce before but was very impressed with how well the flavours infused together to create a delectable dish. 

For the next course there is a choice of either Tandori Chicken with makhni sauce, a classic and favourite of mine, or the Erachi Chettinand, grilled lamb chops with chettinand jus. My husband who loves lamb chops and so opted for those and I ordered the Tandori Chicken so we could try both. 

The makhni sauce in the chicken was mellow and creamy and the lamb chops were so well cooked the meat literally fell off the bone. The last course was served with saag makhni, black dal and garlic naan which rounded of the dishes perfectly.  We loved both our dishes and by this point were also quite full!

But we had one dish to go, the dessert! Dessert was Mithai Wala, tandori pineapple with mango bhappa doi and raspberry. This was the ideal dessert to end the meal as it was light and scrumptious and we didn’t think twice about finishing the lot!

We opted for the paired wine with our Tasting Menu and we were pleased we did this as the wine we sampled complimented the dishes so well! There was a good combination of white and red wines, which isn’t always the case with paired wines, and the dessert wine, a last harvest Tokji from Hungary, was an absolute gem. We even got the chance to sample an Indian mango wine which wasn’t even on the menu yet.

The Price?

Aside from the food on offer, which we were very impressed with, the price for the Hawkyns Tasting Menu is also something to admire. This Tasting Menu containing 5 courses is priced at a very reasonable £38 per person. The wine pairing costs an additional £28 per person and is well worth it. As a result when dining at Hawkyns, I’d highly recommend the Tasting Menu.

Overall?

I had an amazing meal at Hawkyns and enjoyed everything from the superior food, spectacular wine pairing and superb service from all the staff and particularly the General Manager Angela. 

In fact, I’d go as far as to say this was my favourite meal at any of Kochhar’s restaurants so far!

Book your table at Hawkyns Restaurant, Amersham. 
Address: The Crown Inn, 16 High Street, Amersham, HP7 0DH
Closest Tube Station: Amersham
Phone: 01494 728126

My meal at Hawkyns was complimentary, all opinions are my own. 

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