PUNCH is the ritzy new restaurant from Executive Chef Mandar Kulkarni that replaced Le Germain Hotel Mercer's Victor.

To say the very least, it was a worthy swap.

"The hotel has been open since 2003, and at the beginning, when this place opened, it was a pretty hot spot, and it was a place that really established a new trend of hospitality in Toronto," Hotel Le Germain General Manager Jean-Philip Dupré tells blogTO.

"Over the years, the development of the area really asked us the question of how we wanted to reposition the property, and what we wanted to do with Nobu opening across the street and with exciting things happening like the TIFF revitalization."

The answer to that question, which officially opened its doors to the public on Oct. 2, is Punch: a sultry, sensuous restaurant serving a singular blend of Indian and British cuisines that's unlike anything else you'll find in the city.

But, before we get to the food, let's talk about the room for a moment.

Designed by Block Plan Studios, the dining room is sexy, sexy, sexy.

Think New York City's iconic Polo Bar (which, Dupré tells blogTO, was a major inspiration), but with lofty ceilings. Opulent accents like its wood-panneled walls, tufted leather banquettes, and commanding chandeliers all render the space in an air of elegance that still, somehow, manages to feel absolutely accessible.

That very sense of accessibility and comfort, I would learn, is a key pillar of the experience the team sought to create at Punch, from the menu right on to the tiles on the floor.

Chef de Cuisine Manek Singh, Executive Chef Mandar Kulkarni, and Hotel Le Germain GM Jean-Phillip Dupré.

The menu, created by Chef Kulkarni, who boasts experience in the kitchens of Don Alfonso 1890, Buca and Le Select Bistro, similarly manages an impressive tightrope walk between comforting familiarity and sophisticated elegance.

The restaurant's cuisine is neither strictly Indian nor strictly British, but rather a deft, often playful, combination of the two, which builds on the centuries-long histories between the two nations.

"When we decided to do modern British-Indian food, the main aspect was that we looked at was the spice route, and how the spices travel from India to Britain and Europe and all the other parts," Kulkarni explains.

"So that was our inspiration, to explain that journey through the food, and there is no better way than taking classic British foods and just giving subtle Indian flavours to them."

The name Punch itself is an homage to British-Indian trade, referring to one of the first true cocktails in history, which was invented when the British travelled to India, collecting spices and citrus in local markets, combining it all with various alcohols in a large bowl, and calling it punch.

At Punch the restaurant, British and Indian influences find an infinite number of creative ways to meet and mingle with one another.

The Scotch Egg ($19), for example, gets a welcome update with the inclusion of a kebab spice blend in its Berkshire pork outer layer, further amplified with a dollop of Punch's house-made curried ketchup.

Some dishes, like the Delhi "street style" Samosa ($18), which comes served atop a fragrant bed of chickpea curry and cucumber relish with glorious dollops of yogurt and mint-tamarind chutney, skew a little closer to one cultural end of the spectrum than another, but are no less welcome additions.

The true showstopper of the menu is the Beef Wellington ($58). Gordon Ramsay, famed for popularizing the notoriously difficult-to-execute British classic, has officially been given a major run for his money with this one.

An impressively rare beef tenderloin is coated in dijon, wrapped in wild mushroom duxelles and Swiss chard, baked in puff pastry, and served atop sunchoke purée with a drizzle of rich curried jus.

Four words: Butter Chicken Pot Pie ($28). It almost feels like the type of thing that should have already existed, but I'm just glad it does now.

The chicken, despite being baked inside a buttery, light-as-air crust, manages to have a somewhat charcoal-grilled flavour that sends the whole thing over the edge.

When it comes to sweet things, the dessert menu posed an entirely new opportunity to experiment with blending complementary flavours and textures from the two cuisines to yield unexpected results.

This almost-too-pretty-to-eat darling ($16) is a play on gulab jamun, at once decadent and light, wrapped in saffron ganache, which makes for a satisfying tableside cross-section reveal.

This reimagined take on a trifle ($16) is a big win for those of us who prefer our desserts on the not-too-sweet side.

A tart scoop of raspberry sorbet crowns dollops of namelaka, raspberry cream, meringue, crispy pistachio sponge and fresh fruits.

The cocktails at the restaurant deserve a spotlight of their own.

The Crown Jewel ($19) is a pleasantly light and bright rendition of a gin martini, wherein the spirits' floral and herbaceous notes are woken up with the inclusion of Darjeeling tea and pineapple-anise bitters.

The devilish inclusion of caviar-stuffed olives as a garnish is sure to prove a crowd-pleaser.

The Punch Panch ($16) refers to the Hindi and Sanskrit word for five, in this case, playing on the five senses with a spicy, fruity dark-rum-based punch, served atop crushed ice with a cocktail umbrella for good measure.

Calcutta Nights ($19) is Punch's answer to a boozy apple cider, combining Lot 40 rye, apple cider juice, tart tamarind and a healthy dose of spicy clove to warm the system.

Punch is located on the ground floor of Hotel Le Germain Mercer, at 30 Mercer St.