Serving fine Indian cuisine with fresh European influences in the heart of London's Piccadilly, this high profile venue is one of the largest and most celebrated in its sector - and we were there from the beginning.

SINCE opening in May 2003, Mint Leaf has become one of London's most fashionable dining venues with its stunning design and unique approach to gourmet Indian cuisine.

Sited in the basement of a former banking hall just off Trafalgar Square, the restaurant's inherent darkness is maximized with ingenious use of colour, texture and light creating an atmospheric cocoon far removed from the metropolis outside.

Dominating the front of house is a 16 metre long cocktail bar and a tandoor cooking area, used primarily for breads and kebabs, adding a sense of theatre to the on-looking 200-cover restaurant.

Working closely with executive chef K K Anand (previously with Bar Spice and The Cinnamon Club) Nelson's brief was to create a complete kitchen from a single, open area of 100 square metres. Anand's philosophy is to marry the best of freshly available British and French ingredients with long established, traditional Indian cooking methods thus drawing on a culture to create something new rather than attempting to replicate it.

Cooking styles can vary greatly throughout India, but with the comprehensive capabilities of the 15 chefs, each a regional specialist, the possibilities are endless. Therefore, it was crucial that the kitchen design should accommodate all the equipment needed for each to explore his full repertoire with no restrictions on both planned cooking and future menu development.

After much deliberation a 5 metre long central island was devised which contained everything from gas ovens, a griddle, salamander grills, a Chinese-style wok cooker, 18 open burners and two charcoal-fired tandoor ovens.

Nelson took Mint Leaf's specification (less the tandoors) to Falcon Catering Equipment with the view that an entire, bespoke, cooking suite created by one key manufacturer offers many advantages to the client such as a uniformity of operational features and easily-managed and efficient maintenance and service agreements.

Following a very smooth and successful kitchen installation by Nelson, Mint Leaf now offers three, carefully devised menus; the 'house' menu that is available every day at lunch and dinner, a fixed price pre-theatre menu of quick to cook dishes and an extensive bar menu available right through until midnight. In addition, a specially created dish is produced each day to enable KK to gauge customer reaction to new concepts and flavours.