Indian restaurants in London
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A
Mela
Despite its location in the heart of theatreland, this bustling Shaftesbury Ave eatery serves some pretty authentic dishes from across India (with an emphasis on tandoor) and there is magnificent choice for vegetarians. We love the décor too, with colourful papier-mâché Ferris wheels and naive paintings of carnivals and fairs (mela means 'festival' in Hindi).
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Diwana Bhel Poori House
The first of its kind and arguably the best on this busy street, Diwana specialises in Bombay-style bhel poori (a sweet-and-sour, soft and crunchy ‘party mix’ snack) and dosas (filled pancakes made from rice flour). Thalis offering a selection of tasty treats are £6.75 to £8.50 and the all-you-can-eat lunchtime buffet (£6.95) is legendary.
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Masala Zone
This spacious place with outside seating set back from Upper St in Islington is one of the best budget Indian options in London. Thoroughly modern in design, it serves up meals centred on its famous thalis, as well as tandoor and grilled dishes. There are now several other branches throughout the capital.
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Kennington Tandoori
This local curry house is a favourite of MPs from across the river, including former Prime Minister John Major.
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New Tayyab
This buzzing (OK, crowded) Punjabi restaurant is in another league to its Brick Lane equivalents. Seekh kebabs, masala fish and other starters served on sizzling hot plates are delicious, as are accompaniments such as dhal, naan and raita. But with Tayyabs now appearing regularly in guidebooks and the huge London Royal Hospital round the corner, you should expect to wait for a table.
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Café Spice Namaste
Chef Cyrus Todiwala has taken an old magistrates court just a 10-minute walk from Tower Hill and decorated it in ‘carnival’ colours; the service and atmosphere are as bright as the walls. The Parsee and Goan menu is famous for its superlative dhansaak (lamb stew with rice and lentils; £14.95) but just as good are the spicy chicken frango piri-piri and the Goan king-prawn curry. Bonuses: they make their own chutneys here and there’s a little garden behind the dining room open in the warmer months.
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Amaya
Hidden down a little arcade behind Starbucks lies a swish, stylish restaurant, with low-lit interior, colourful jewelled inlays in the wood, hanging crystal strings and chandeliers. But what will really hold your attention are the chefs at work in the open kitchen, as they slave over an iron skillet (tawa), charcoal grill (sigri) or clay oven (tandoor). Varied set menus (including vegetarian one and an express lunch put the emphasis on sharing dishes with your dining companions.
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Kastoori
If you're a true curry junkie and neither Brick Lane nor Whitechapel will do, the capital's contemporary hotspot is in the suburban wilds of SW17 - or Tooting. Near Tooting Broadway and Tooting Bec tube stations, you'll find rows of neighbouring curry houses, from Bangladeshi to Sri Lankan, including Kastoori. Here you'll get excellent Gujarati cuisine, by way of Africa, which is obviously lovingly homemade, rather than churned out on an assembly line. It's like no other Indian you'll ever eat.
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Benares
This restaurant, in a prime Mayfair location, is the first independent project of Atul Kochar, who a few years ago became only the second Indian chef in the world to earn a Michelin star. The interior is made up of dark wood, taupe upholstery and cream walls, while the small but choice menu brings together the four corners of India with contemporary dash.
Kochar has an expert touch when it comes to spicing, although he needs some help sorting out his service, which is a little scatty.
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Rasa Samudra
This bubblegum-pink eatery just up from Oxford St showcases the seafood cuisine of Kerala state on India’s southwest coast, supported by a host – eight out of 14 main courses – of more familiar vegetarian dishes. The fish soups are outstanding, the breads superb and the various curries devinely spiced. The same group runs the South Indian vegetarian restaurant Rasa in Stoke Newington.
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Masaledar
If you're a true curry junkie and neither Brick Lane nor Whitechapel will do, the capital's contemporary hotspot is in the suburban wilds of SW17 - or Tooting. Near Tooting Broadway and Tooting Bec tube stations, you'll find rows of neighbouring curry houses, from Bangladeshi to Sri Lankan, including Masaledar, a tandoori house with East African specialities.
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Radha Krishna Bhavan
If you're a true curry junkie and neither Brick Lane nor Whitechapel will do, the capital's contemporary hotspot is in the suburban wilds of SW17 - or Tooting. Near Tooting Broadway and Tooting Bec tube stations, you'll find rows of neighbouring curry houses, from Bangladeshi to Sri Lankan, including Radha Krishna Bhavan, serving superlative Keralan cuisine.
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Veeraswamy
Having opened in 1926, this upmarket curry house can lay claim to being the oldest Indian restaurant in Britain. It’s now owned by the same people who run Masala Zone and the standards are as high as ever, with the kitchen producing such crowd-pleasers as slow-cooked Hyderabad lamb biryani and Keralan-style sea bass.
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Bombay Bicycle Club
One of three ‘BBC’ restaurants in London, though there are also several delivery stations for this upmarket chain around the capital. This Hampstead sidestreet space is all scrubbed wooden floorboards and starched white tablecloths, with an alluring and interesting menu and plenty of veggie choices.
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Cinnamon Club
Domed skylights, high ceilings, parquet flooring and a book-lined mezzanine – this just had to be a library in a former life – and the hushed, efficient staff only add to the illusion. The atmosphere is colonial club and the food modern – or perhaps palace – Indian.
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Vama
Famous patrons of Vama have included Wesley Snipes and King Abdullah of Jordan – so it’s touristy, but targeted at a special class of tourist. Don’t let that put you off. Ordinary mortals come here, too, to sample some of the most imaginative North Indian cooking in town.
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Lahore Kebab House
This restaurant with a large kitchen viewable through glass is not an aesthetic experience, and ever since City workers discovered it the standard of cooking seems to have slipped. Still, it remains popular with the local community and has some excellent meat and chicken biryanis.
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Red Fort
The menu at this stylish Indian in the heart of Soho has a Northwest Frontier edge, with lots of tender lamb and unusual, tongue-tingling curry dishes that you won’t find at any of its competitors. In the basement is the stylish Akbar cocktail bar (yep, we get the pun).
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Ma Goa
The speciality here is the subtle cuisine of Portugal’s erstwhile colony on the west coast of India. Dishes include the homemade chorizo topped with a spicy onion sauce; and fish caldin, a sour-sweet coconut-based concoction.
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Chutney's
Although, like Brick Lane, the South Indian restaurants along Drummond St have seen a decline in standards, the drop is not so pronounced, and Chutney's continues to provide good, cheap all-you-can-eat vegetarian buffets.
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Kerala
Oxford Circus may seem an odd place to go for Indian food, but this little gem gets consistent thumbs ups for its South Indian dishes. Try one of its distinctive biryanis or the prawns cooked in masala sauce.
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Ravi Shankar
Another reliable bhel poori house on Drummond St, this place with the memorable name is a good second choice if you can’t get a table at Diwana.
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