The Bite Magazine - Spring/Summer 2021 - Issue 29

D uring Queen Victoria’s reign, intrepid Scottish botanists like Thomas Anderson, who earned a gold medal for the best local plant collection and assisted in arranging the Indian herbarium, trav- elled through India. Another botanist, Robert Fortune, renowned for introducing around 250 new ornamental plants from China and Japan to the gardens of Britain, Australia and the USA, played a role in the development of the Indian tea industry in the 19th century. Located at the junction of Earls Court Road and Old Brompton Road, botanical-themed fine dining Indian restaurant Flora Indica pays homage to the botanists who discovered thousands of exotic plants previously unknown to Britain. The restaurant is named after the 1855 Introductory Essay To The Flora Indica book by Sir Joseph Hooker. He led a group of botanists to cata- logue plants in India and later became the head of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, in south-west London. With a mainly blue exterior with green accents at the entrance and surrounding panels, a network of reflective silver adjoining pipes and two plant emblems decorate the restaurant name on either side. There is a vast bell lamp overshadowing a green plant pot on the ground to the right of the door, perhaps to emphasise the restau- rant’s given name. The lounge, bar and dining facility advertise fine Scottish spirits, British craft beers and spiffy Indian punches on the blue-painted skirting board. Inside the restaurant, the creative décor pays tribute to an eclectic mix of Scottish heritage Harris tweed fabrics, Victorian steampunk in zinc, copper and brass and warm, rich teak wood with Victorian period scien- tific curiosities decorating the walls and shelves. The same adjoining pipes, this time in copper and brass, and other trinkets such as the robotic characters with gas masks on, a rustic fan, small glass jars and empty alcohol bottles are displayed on shelves against a glit- tery silver patterned wall. The eye-catching dark blue telephone box marked ‘Mod- ulator’ with a crown symbol above it, positioned to the left of the inside entrance, is reminiscent of the typical red London boxes. On one side of the restaurant, the wall is decorated with several illuminated-bulb flower emblems. On the other, the rectangular mirrors are bor- dered by a larger frame, above a shelf with different objects such as a pamphlet and a small microscope. Food Photographer:Tony Wellington bitecuisine The Scottish Botanists influence