Gymkhana Tandoori Marinade

The Gymkhana range of sauces and marinades comes from the team behind JKS Restaurants, a London-based group that runs a number of high-end restaurants in the capital and internationally. Several of its restaurants hold Michelin stars, including Gymkhana and Trishna.

The Gymkhana Fine Foods range trades heavily on this restaurant heritage. The company openly admits that its products aren’t the cheapest, and the marinade I tried retails for around £5.75–£7.00, depending on where you buy it.

Mine was actually a gift from my sister-in-law, so this wasn’t a freebie. We have no connection with Gymkhana and they haven’t asked us to write this review.

Their product description reads:

“Our marinade is rich with Kashmiri chilli for heat and vibrancy, black cardamom for an added smoky flavour, and a warming undertone of cinnamon, clove and cumin, all folded into a yoghurt base.”

I followed the instructions, coated the chicken in the marinade and left it overnight. I baked the chicken in the oven before finishing it under the grill to add some char, and it worked pretty much as expected.

Sorry about the photograph — I had already started tucking in before remembering that I needed to take one.

Overall, I was happy with the result. It tasted like tandoori chicken, but I wasn’t quite blown away by the Michelin-starred, flavour-packed punch promised by the packaging. We gave it 7 out of 10, which still left me feeling that learning to make your own marinade is probably the better option.

There are plenty of recipes available online, and a tandoori marinade is essentially yoghurt mixed with readily available spices. This product is therefore more about convenience than noticeably improving the finished dish.

It’s a solid choice, but don’t expect miracles.