I quite like music in a restaurant, though I can happily do without it as well. It’s a tricky business that depends on what kind of stuff they put on and, crucially, how loud it is.

Waiting for the arrival of King Dubs at Myristica, I notice the music is rather nice contemporary jazz and at just the right level - no mean feat in such a large, high-ceilinged room. and then I notice the smell wafting from the open-plan kitchen. Now that’s an even trickier thing, especially in so smart a place, yet they seem to have judged it to perfection. I sit there enjoying a delicate and tempting blend of Indian aromatics that’s enough to get the juices flowing without overpowering my nose. How do they do that?

Once Dubs is in da house we’re down to business, crunching papadoms and colourful far-far with rich, fresh chutneys and flavoursome Tusker beer. Myristica’s tempting wine list can’t sway Dubs’s curry’n’beer habit. The ‘contemporary Indian’ menu avoids the more familiar database of sauce-led Bangladeshi-style curries and offers instead a range of selected dishes.

There’s plenty of lamb, chicken, fish and vegetable recipes and more unusual game - duck, venison and (Dubs’s choice for starter) rabbit varuval, a dark stir fry of soft meat and strong flavours. I go for the baby squid - a remembered favourite - and the crisply fried morsels mixed with shredded salad and red chilli are fabulous, leaving an afterglow in my mouth that begs for the next course.

Given that every dish is freshly prepared to order, the mains arrive with perfect timing (we were asked if we wanted to wait a little but greedily declined the offer). We’d asked for the classic thali combination of main courses, dhal, veg side dish, rice and breads and it makes a colourful spread on our table before we begin tucking in. It’s glorious, each dish distinctly flavoured and perfectly cooked and the whole a fine balance of tastes. We tear into roti and nan, mopping up mouthfuls of deep, gingery tawa ki lamb and succulent chunks of Goan-style halibut in creamy tomato sauce, mouth-melting semi-sweet okra and a surprisingly attention-seeking dhal bhukara, smooth lentils hiding tasty beans and a full flavour. It’s too good to rush but we clear the table all too soon.

In most Indian places that would be a disappointment but, unusually, Myristica offers an interesting choice of desserts. Happily Dubs goes for mango and cinnamon cheesecake which leaves me free to order shrikhand, a spiced cream whip with crunches of chopped pistachio. Hoorah! It’s my favourite, as glorious as I remember it. And thus we’re finally full and very, very satisfied. Myristica uniquely offers the chance to have a smart and interesting dinner experience enjoying unusual Indian dishes with confidence - and the music’s pretty good, too.

Tony Benjamin