Le Mirch, Chef Sushil Kumar's French-Influenced Modern Indian in North Dupont

[Simul Parikh]

Has anyone been to Le Mirch?

Never heard of this type of cooking before - Indian with a French influence.

Was thinking of our Diwali dinner and having it there.

S

[DonRocks]

On 10/22/2013 at 9:48 AM, Simul Parikh said:

Has anyone been to Le Mirch?

Never heard of this type of cooking before - Indian with a French influence.

Was thinking of our Diwali dinner and having it there.

S

I looked at the menu, and don't see much French influence on it (although in the Vision section of the website, it says the chef was influenced by Samuel Breux, who is a Michelin-starred chef from the Midi-Pyrénées region of France, so maybe the influence is in the actual execution).

[The Hersch]

I looked at the menu, and said to myself "good god, that's the worst presentation of a menu I've ever seen!"

[Pat]

I looked at the menu, and said to myself "good god, that's the worst presentation of a menu I've ever seen!"

It looks like someone put a working menu up on the website.  It does need a little refinement presentation-wise.

[pltrgyst]

We only get up here from Sarasota one week each month these days, so it's nice to find some new places. Le Mirch is right next to Bistro du Coin, so we gave it a try tonight.

We didn't note any particularly French flavor combinations, but the food was excellent. Not as creative as Rasika, but not the usual neighborhood Indian, either. The actual menu is much more informative than what's on the Web site.

We had as appetizers les Epinards (crispy roasted spinach leaves topped with an interesting tamarind/yogurt cream sauce, red onion, and avocado), and Chicken Momo (spiced meatballs in tomato sauce). They went together really well.

Mains were goat curry (off the menu -- ask about goat and they'll prepare it any way you like) and lamb shank (braised and pulled off the bone into a sauce of onion, tomato, ginger, and Kashmiri chili). Both were excellent. We ordered the goat 5/10 and the lamb 7/10 on their heat scale, and I think both were optimal (no head sweat, very warm tongues, two runny noses.  8;) ) Very good naan and basmati.

All went very well indeed with a decent California zinfandel. The wine list is pretty well-chosen, and populated with decent selections from $30 on up. There are five dessert wines, four of which are $150 and up, including Y'Quem at $450 (not for us).

Desserts were kheer, a rice pudding with almonds and raisins (thinner than usual), and mango cheesecake, which was more of a mango pie, with little notable cheesecake flavor or texture. Neither was a hit with us.

Not Rasika, but well worth a visit, even if just to get the goat.

You folks up here are so lucky to live in a city with such broad offerings. After 30 years here, we really miss the variety.

[Simul Parikh]

28 minutes ago, Simul Parikh said:

Definitely try Rasa Grill! It’s also in a different space.  Is anyone else in the DC area using jackfruit yet???

23 minutes ago, DonRocks said:

Le Mirch is.

Oh wow. Is that place good? Seems interesting 

[DonRocks]

22 minutes ago, Simul Parikh said:

Oh wow. Is that place good? Seems interesting 

I'm waiting for you to tell me - it has been too long for me to say anything. I remember going in not long after you asked, didn't write about it, was planning to go back, and never did - so ... ain't got nuttin. It's definitely skewed more towards the Indique / Rasika guard.