“Hot, fatter and full of chili”: TOM PARKER BOWLES discovers a new Indian

Everything at Ambassadors Clubhouse is big, bold and lavish, like a grand Punjabi wedding. Based on a former Indian ambassador's summer home on a Himalayan hill station, it has two floors, three private dining rooms and a huge terrace with psychedelic swirling carpets, intricately inlaid wooden poles and elegant stained glass panels. The lights are seductively soft, the service friendly and smiling, the whole place sparkles with greedy joy.

Which is hardly surprising since this is the new spot from JKS, the people behind Gymkhana, Sabor, Bibi and Speedboat Bar, four of my favorite restaurants in London. The Sethi family (whose grandfather was the aforementioned ambassador) are true masters, cooking everything from Thai to Taiwanese to Spanish to regional Indian with predictably pleasing results. The detail is everything and the quality of their interiors always matches the brilliance of the food.

Here the menu is based on the food of Punjab before it was so turbulently divided between India and Pakistan; These are rich flavors, deliciously meaty, with kebabs cooked in the tandoor, under the grill and on the griddle. The lamb nalli barrah consists of four pieces of tandoor-roasted, strongly seasoned chops and beautifully charred loin, the meat is wonderfully soft. The marinade penetrates deep into the meat, as powerfully as a Sikh warrior.

There are chicken koftas, the minced meat wrapped around quail eggs, subtle and tender, with a soft chilli grits. A mutton keema naan filled with minced lamb is spicy, fatty and full of chilli and pepper. Wild shrimp is fragrant with turmeric, coriander and ajwain seeds, but not so much that it overpowers the sweetness of the shellfish. A bone-in matka beliram lamb curry appears in a clay pot, the sauce warm with cloves and cinnamon, cardamom, pepper and chili. Everything is filled with blistered black butter naan, loaded with lime-soaked raw onion and chilli shards and some of the best basmati I've ever tasted.

What makes it all the more memorable is that this is their first night. I usually give new jobs a few weeks to settle in. They really hit the ground running here. It's a big banger. But to do justice to the menu, you have to arrive hungry. Really, really hungry.

About £60 per head. Ambassadors Clubhouse, 25 Heddon Street, London W1; Ambassador Clubhouse.com

★★★★✩