Gymkhana

The Room Before the Food

Mayfair has always had a particular talent for interiors that do the storytelling before a dish arrives. At Gymkhana, 42 Albemarle Street, the reference point is the colonial-era Indian sporting club: ceiling fans that turn slowly above richly upholstered leather seating, old prints and mounted stag's heads sharing wall space with hunting trophies from the Maharaja of Jodhpur. The ground floor runs to a dining room and bar, while the basement shifts register — deeper red, more enclosed, the kind of space that makes lunch feel like a considered act. A mirrored staircase connects the two levels, and that small architectural detail captures what the room is doing: reflecting one world back through another.

This is not the London Indian restaurant of twenty years ago, where the decor signalled either austerity or excess. The colonial-club format positions Gymkhana inside a Mayfair dining culture that includes places like Sketch, The Lecture Room and Library and CORE by Clare Smyth — restaurants where setting and food operate at the same level of intention. The room is making an argument, and the kitchen has to answer it.

Northern Technique, Contemporary Range

London's modern Indian dining scene has fragmented in interesting ways. Some kitchens push hard toward pure regional specificity; others run at international fusion. Gymkhana occupies a position that is more disciplined than either extreme: the menu is predominantly Northern Indian in structure, with the tandoor and the grill as its organising grammar, but the execution reaches across the subcontinent when the dish demands it. That editorial choice , stay rooted, but don't be constrained , is what has sustained two Michelin stars since at least 2024 and a ranking of 85th among European restaurants in Opinionated About Dining's 2025 list.

The cooking at this level is not about importing a French framework and draping Indian flavours over it. The complexity here is achieved through the logic of the subcontinent's own techniques: the char and smokiness of the tandoor, the layering of spice that Northern Indian cuisine demands, the slow-building heat of vindaloo made with pork cheek rather than the default lamb. Where global technique enters, it tends to be structural rather than decorative. A duck-egg bhurji scrambled with lobster and served alongside a Malabar paratha is a good example: the pairing is unexpected, but the method , scrambling, the paratha as vehicle , is entirely within an Indian culinary register. The ingredient is imported; the logic is indigenous.

This intersection of method and produce is where Gymkhana is most interesting to read as a restaurant. Compare it to Gaa in Bangkok, where the conversation between Indian training and Southeast Asian ingredients works in the other direction, or to Le Bernardin in New York City, where French technique is the fixed grammar and the fish simply passes through it. At Gymkhana, the tradition is Indian; the contemporary inflection is the variable.

The Menu in Detail

The nashta section , small plates with an Anglicised nod to the snacks served at colonial-era gatherings , gives the menu its most playful range. Minced kid goat methi keema with pao bread sits alongside duck-egg bhurji with lobster and Malabar paratha. These are the dishes that reward ordering adventurously rather than defensively. The main plates are anchored by grills and chops: tandoori masala lamb chops appear with walnut chutney, a pairing that is counterintuitive on the page and apparently coherent on the plate given the restaurant's sustained standing. Guinea fowl pepper fry arrives with a Malabar paratha; Goan-style salmon tikka comes with tomato chutney. Wild muntjac biryani and pork cheek vindaloo extend the game and offbeat-protein logic beyond what the conventional Indian restaurant menu typically allows at this price point.

Desserts continue the same structural approach. A tiramisu variant incorporates rasgulla , the syrupy, sponge-textured Bengali sweet , in place of ladyfinger. Basmati kheer, the rice pudding spiced with cardamom, is served with mango sorbet. These are not East-meets-West novelties; they are recombinations that use a pastry logic familiar to Western diners as a carrier for flavours and textures that are Indian in origin.

The bar operates independently, offering cocktails and reinvented punches alongside Amritsari shrimps and Punjabi samosas with tamarind-spiked saunth chutney. A house pale ale, 4th Rifles, has been brewed specifically for the restaurant. The wine list includes English sparkling wine, a relatively unusual commitment for a kitchen that has no obvious obligation to it, and reflects the broader JKS group's approach to pairing across its portfolio, which also includes BiBi.

Gymkhana in London's High-End Dining Context

At ££££ pricing, Gymkhana sits in the same tier as The Ledbury, Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, and the other two-star addresses in London. What distinguishes its position is that it holds that tier while representing a cuisine category that, historically, has not been priced or regarded at parity with French or Modern European cooking in the capital. The two Michelin stars , held consecutively through 2024 and 2025 , along with an 85th ranking in the 2025 OAD European list and 76 points in La Liste's 2026 global rankings, are evidence that this parity has been established in the critical record, not merely claimed.

That matters for how you read the room and the price. The comparison set is not the broader Indian restaurant scene in London. It is the restaurants in this neighbourhood and this tier: the Mayfair and West End addresses that carry sustained international recognition. Seen through that frame, the colonial-club aesthetic is not a quirk; it is a positioning statement, and the kitchen's sustained decoration suggests the statement holds.

For readers building a London dining itinerary, Gymkhana fits alongside rather than in competition with modern European addresses like CORE by Clare Smyth. The cuisines don't overlap; the occasions do. Both reward advance planning and both assume a diner who is paying attention. The broader London high-end restaurant landscape also includes notable addresses outside the city at comparable or higher price points: The Fat Duck in Bray, L'Enclume in Cartmel, Moor Hall in Aughton, Gidleigh Park in Chagford, Hand and Flowers in Marlow, and Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons in Great Milton.

Planning Your Visit

Gymkhana operates seven days a week with a lunch service running until 2:45 pm and dinner from 5:30 pm, closing at 10:45 pm daily. The ground floor is the more active space for lunch; the basement's enclosed atmosphere makes it the better choice for dinner when the red walls and lower light do more work. The George rating of 4.5 across 2,801 Google reviews is a reliable indicator of consistent execution rather than occasional brilliance , at this volume of feedback, outliers average out.

The restaurant sits within walking distance of Green Park and Bond Street stations, placing it in the core of Mayfair's dining cluster. For those building a broader London trip, our full London restaurants guide, our full London hotels guide, our full London bars guide, our full London wineries guide, and our full London experiences guide cover the city across all categories.

Quick reference: 42 Albemarle St, London W1S 4JH. Open Monday to Sunday, lunch 12:00–2:45 pm, dinner 5:30–10:45 pm. Price range: ££££.

Frequently Asked Questions

What should I order at Gymkhana?

The nashta small plates are the most direct expression of what the kitchen does: the kid goat methi keema with pao bread and the duck-egg bhurji with lobster and Malabar paratha are the kinds of dishes that reflect both the Northern Indian foundation and the contemporary range the menu is known for. Among the main plates, the tandoori masala lamb chops and the wild muntjac biryani appear consistently in critical descriptions of the restaurant's strengths. The pork cheek vindaloo is worth noting as an example of how the kitchen uses unfamiliar proteins within classic formats. For those less familiar with Indian desserts, the kheer , Basmati rice pudding with cardamom and mango sorbet , is a low-risk introduction to the meetha section. These recommendations reflect the dishes cited in the award citations and critical record rather than firsthand tasting.

What is the overall feel of Gymkhana?

Gymkhana sits in London's top tier of formal dining, holding two Michelin stars and an OAD European ranking of 85th in 2025. The colonial Indian sporting-club aesthetic , leather seating, ceiling fans, hunting trophies , gives the room a specific character that is considered rather than incidental. At ££££ pricing, the expectation is a full-service, multi-course experience in an environment where the room and the food are operating at the same level of intention. It is, in short, a Mayfair restaurant that happens to serve Indian food, rather than an Indian restaurant that has found its way to Mayfair. That distinction matters for setting expectations.

Would Gymkhana be comfortable with kids?

At ££££ in central Mayfair, the format and atmosphere are oriented toward adult dining. The two-level layout, formal service register, and the length of a meal at this price point tend to work against a comfortable experience with young children. London offers a wide range of Indian dining at more accessible price points and in more relaxed formats where younger guests are better accommodated. If the goal is to introduce a family to serious Indian cooking, Gymkhana's JKS group stable includes other addresses at different price tiers. For solo or adult-group dining in this category, the combination of sustained critical recognition and consistent Google ratings across nearly 3,000 reviews makes Gymkhana a reliable choice within London's high-end dining options.