Bloomsbury, Indian Restaurant Guide

If you’re looking for a “good pitstop in the West End”, this trio (also with an offshoot in Hammersmith) offers “tasty vegan and veggie Indian food” at “very reasonable prices” – nothing fancy, but “good basic cooking” of “South Indian staples”. Pickier diners can feel that some sauces are “rather watery”, or that the filling food can come “with no stand-out flavours”. Practically all agree, however, that “a great Masala Dosa and beer makes a very affordable meal in Central London”. Top Tip – “good choice to take a crowd: they’re not fazed by large tables”.

This “good-value” contemporary Indian in Bloomsbury offers “reliable” cooking from Tamil Nadu on India’s southern tip. Like its neighbour Sagar, it offers a selection of dosas, but here the menu isn’t vegetarian with many options ‘From our butchers’ or ‘From our Fishermen‘s nets’ and chicken ‘From our Farm’. (If you’re up Leicester way, they also have a branch not far from the De Montfort Hall).

2022 Review: Chef Krishna Negi (who first made his name when he launched Tangawizi in Richmond in 2004) opened this Fitzrovian basement spot in October 2019, with a menu featuring ‘nano plates’ (small plates and sharing bowls) inspired by 1947’s partition of India. Some initial reviews on its cuisine have been very upbeat.

This “historic Indian” in Covent Garden provides “traditional curry of the highest quality” with “prompt and friendly service”. The menu is built around “hearty” Punjabi food (lamb, chicken, naan breads), and some of the recipes have hardly changed since its founding in 1946 – although the Maan family’s own Butter Chicken had to wait eight years for rationing to end. Top Menu Tip – “the bullet naan (with fresh chilli and garlic) is a total must-have”.

2023 Review: Sabbir Karim’s “reliably consistent” modern curry house near Great Ormond Street Hospital boasts an “extensive menu that goes well beyond the traditional Indian dishes”; offering “very good quality across the board”.

“Cheap and very, very cheerful!”, vegan Indian canteen just off Oxford Street, opened in 1979 by the Hare Krishna temple next door and serving ‘karma-free’ meals – which means no onions, garlic or mushrooms, and no alcohol. The value is pretty well unbeatable, with a 5-item plate at £7.95 or a 12-item thali extravaganza for £15.95. (“As a confirmed carnivore, I love this place as a change!!”).

Nisha Katona’s Liverpool-based operation has two branches in London (Charlotte Street and Westfield Stratford) offering her “very tasty” Indian street food – “with the occasional hint of raw spice”. The Lancashire-born former barrister launched the business in 2014 and now has 28 outlets around the country, whose “enjoyable, authentic food” is “really great for a chain”.

A small, veggie newcomer launched in autumn 2024 just north of Covent Garden, where the kitchen is overseen by Indian-born Priti Prakash, who promises a ‘tantalising journey through the bustling streets of Delhi, Mumbai, and beyond’. In her October 2024 review, The Sunday Times’s Charlotte Ivers gave it the thumbs-up for “Zone 5 food… the kind of cooking you get in outer London, where Indian people… actually live… and the prices have not been turned up”; and with some dishes “a revelation”.