Please use the links above to read about Mango & Silk in the premier London food guides 2009.

Time Out Eating & Drinking Guide
Udit Sarkhel, long a major influence on Indian food in London, closed his own Earlsfield restaurant in 2007, but he’s now head chef here. A beige and white colour scheme and wooden flooring create seemly environs for embarking on the menu’s tour of India’s home kitchens. Parsi classics, Moghul stalwarts, southern coconut masalas and Punjabi comfort food are all here. We began with a Goan squid balchao from the daily specials list: succulent seafood in a vinegary masala, cut with sweet cinnamon and fiery red chillies. We’d have given it top marks if there’d been less sauce. Crisp samosas, with a lemon-drenched potato filling, were delectable too. Standards were maintained by the mains. Malai fish curry delivered perfectly cooked cod in a creamy coconut-milk broth, punctuated by chillies and mustard seeds. Murgh makhani, the Punjabi precursor to tikka masala, produced tender chicken in a buttery tomato sauce. Weekday ‘express’ lunches cost just £5.50, and the Sunday buffet is a mere £11.95. Judging from the full house on a Friday night, Sarkhel’s cooking attracts well-heeled aficionados. Much is owed to owner Radhika Jerath’s charm at front of house. This good-value, amiable restaurant is doing East Sheen proud.

Charles Campion's London restaurant guide
Best high street Indian
Udit Sarkhel has had a glittering career. After several glory years in the kitchens at the Bombay Brasserie, he set up his own restaurant in SW18 and went on to win a hatful of awards. So it was somewhat disappointing when Sarkhe’s shut and Udit moved to Brighton, deciding to channel his creativity into painting. The good news is that he’s back in the kitchen. Mango & Silk opened towards the end of 2007 and the short menu features many of Udit’s signature dishes. This place is a local hero – sophisticated cooking and spicing, friendly service, modern décor and a gentle price! Just about everything you need from a perfect local restaurant. Starters include the famous chicken ‘sixers’ from Hyderabad – meaty chicken wings given the hot sharp treatment; also splendid lamb samosas accompanied by chickpeas; and Goan prawns balchao – large prawns and a rich sauce served with bread. What impresses most about these dishes is the integrity of the spicing; they are not dumbed down in any way and the ‘hot’ dishes are gratifyingly hot. Mains continue the theme with jardaloo ma gosht – a Parsee dish of lamb and apricot; wonderful prawn patia – king prawns in rich gravy with chunks of aubergine and red pumpkin; kozhi vartha kosambu – a South Indian chicken curry made with coconut. The breads are particularly fresh and praiseworthy. Great food reasonable prices. Welcome back Mr. Sarkhel

Eat London
A new home in East Sheen for seasoned Indian chef Udit Sarkhel who came out of retirement – he moved to Brighton and took up painting after shutting Sarkhels’s in Southfields – to get behind of the stove at this small neighbourhood restaurant in 2007. This is no bog standard suburban tandoori, although it shouldn’t surprise you to hear that it’s really not worth the journey for the setting alone. Rather take yourself, to what estate agents like to refer to as Mortlake, for Sarkhel’s way with ambitious pan-Indain menu that takes Parsi, Mughal, Punjabi and south Indian dishes and makes use of seasonal British bits and pieces where possible. A favourite of William Sitwell the curry loving editor of Waitrose Food Illustrated, everything from Hyderabad chicken sixers to the lamb coconut bloona delivers, as does the finely affordable Sunday lunch buffet.

Michelin - London Restaurants & Hotels
Mango and Silk welcomes you to “the mystic and exotica of classic Indian dining in a serene and peaceful surrounding” and you can’t argue with that. The owner Radhika Jerath is a natural and charming hostess but, more importantly, she has persuaded Udit Sarkhel back to the stove. His reputation was sealed from the day he opened his eponymous restaurant in Southfields and his menu provided an exhilarating culinary tour of India. His cooking displays a lightness of touch, expert spicing and a respect for ingredients; the Hyderabadi Chicken Sixers are a speciality. That window on the kitchen works both ways: he likes to see his customers enjoying themselves. The prices are terrific and those are his paintings on the wall.