Colony

Press Reviews (5)

• AA Gill (7th June 2010)
  Food 2/5, Atmosphere 1/5
  
  This new Marylebone Indian is a “stupid concept”, says the critic. But “what made a dull meal really unforgettable was the price [with] three people ended up forking out £151 for forking in a meagre dinner, with a single glass of £4.75 pinot grigio”. “That’s astonishing.”
• Matthew Norman (12th April 2010)
  
  “If so unmitigated a monstrosity would be an achievement anywhere, let alone in central London, the involvement as executive chef of Atul Kochhar – a Michelin star-holder at Benares – allows it to slip the bonds of the merely surreal and suggest a malign biblical miracle. Had Jehovah deployed Colony as the first of the plagues celebrated recently at Passover services, He'd have spared himself slaughtering every first-born Egyptian boy child. One meal would have broken Pharaoh's spirit.”
• Tracey MacLeod (6th April 2010)
  Food 3/5 stars, Ambience 2/5 stars, Service 3/5 stars
  
  “The name evokes the vanished glamour of Raffles hotel and the woosh of the punkawallah's fan. We find ourselves sitting in a beige, windowless cube which feels like the panic room they’d herd hotel guests into should the natives start revolting”. Another critic finds the “concept” of this Marylebone fusion restaurant a little hard to swallow. It may claim to offer cuisine inspired by “the street traders of colonial Asia”, but the critic instead finds “complex, recondite dishes which would have the memsahibs calling for the smelling salts”.
• Fay Maschler (1st April 2010)
  1/5 stars
  
  The restaurant publicity describes the concept of this Marylebone fusion restaurant as “the simplicity, delicate marinades, aromatic flavours and cooking methods developed over time by the street traders of the once British Colonies”. After three visits, however, the critic remains utterly unconvinced. “Drab” and “miniscule” bar snacks, uncomplementary flavour combinations (“pan-fried sea bass with a ginger infused coconut stew and garlic mash doesn't chime melodiously with a duo of lamb meatloaf infused with rose petals”) and a dining area “in the beige spirit of boardroom” combine to make a disappointing dining experience all round. “Atul Kochhar is a gifted chef...but the potential for enjoyment seems to have been spoiled by division of labour into too many menu concepts, a faintly bogus theme and demonstrably bad value.”
• Roopa Gulati (4th March 2010)
  3/5 stars
  
  The critic finds a lack of “buoyancy” at Atul Kocchar’s Marylebone newcomer, but the food generally hits the spot.