Covent Garden, Indian Restaurant Guide

“If you like dosas, idlis and uttapams”, these “cheap and cheerful” but “spotless and well-run” canteens in the West End (plus Hammersmith and Harrow) are “an excellent choice for very good South Indian vegetarian food” – they’re also “a top option to take a crowd because they’re not fazed by large tables”, and “even carnivores don’t complain” when they try the “tasty food”.

“You nearly always have to queue for a table – often for at least an hour – but the atmosphere is amazing and the food is worth the wait” at Shamil & Kavi Thakrar’s unbelievably successful chain: again, the most commented-on business in our annual diners’ poll, which has stormed the capital since it first opened in Covent Garden in 2010. Outlets in Canary Wharf and Battersea Power Station opened in late 2024, bringing the total in London to seven, and each branch has its own intriguing character, with the unifying theme being a homage to the Irani cafés of post-war Bombay. “Very much a well-oiled machine, there is little sign of any drop-off in quality as the group expands”, while “for such large places the brilliant service is remarkably friendly and efficient”. Meanwhile, the “deeply flavoursome and satisfying” menu has introduced Londoners to “authentic and delicious dishes that aren’t just another copycat Indian selection”, with such “zingy and exciting flavours”. And morning-time in London will never be the same again, since the advent of their “great Anglo-Indian breakfasts”. All-in-all, “the whole approach is inclusive and exciting”, “it’s always buzzy and fun too”; and “overall and for the price point you can’t go wrong!”. Top Menu Tips: “the black dal is to die for!”; “superb okra fries”; “the roomali roti is sublime”; “the lamb chops are excellent”; “Chicken Ruby is dreamy”. In the mornings, “the unfailing Bacon naan is a thing of poetry”; “chilli cheese toast hits the spot every time”, and “drink the lemon ginger and honey chai”.

2021 Review: Near Leicester Square tube and need a quick bite? – maybe grab a meal at this simple two-year-old: the first London outpost of Japan’s largest (1,000-strong) chain specialising in kare raisu dishes – curry and rice: over 40 different rice toppings are available, including hamburgers, scrambled eggs and fried oysters.

“A Covent Garden institution, this much-loved and invariably busy Indian restaurant has been a landmark in the area since 1951”. A pioneer curry house that started out five years earlier in Aldgate, it is now run by the great-grandson of the founder and “prides itself on its original old-school” North Indian cooking (“I took a Punjabi friend for dinner, he reckoned it was almost as good as his grandmother’s”).

Handily tucked away off Trafalgar Square, this popular venture presents an Indian restaurant in the style of a wood-panelled London chophouse. Rated well all-round, fans say it’s “worth the journey just for the crispy lamb chops” (and “the chicken is a highlight, too”).

2023 Review: “Good scruffy fun with a side order of nostalgia” is to be had at this “hidden gem” in the Strand (a favourite with staff at the Indian High Commission opposite). “An almost anonymous doorway leads you up some stairs” where you “step back in time, not to a cheesy incarnation of the British Raj, but to the early days of independence”. Founded in 1951 (Prime Minister Nehru was among the founding members), the ‘club’ is open to the public and serves food that can be (but is not invariably) “excellent” at a “great price”, in an authentically “slightly chaotic atmosphere”. It’s been under siege for the past five years from a landlord itching to redevelop, but it’s “an institution that deserves to survive, and an oasis of good value in central London”. Top Tip – it’s unlicensed – “pause for a drink in the bar downstairs before or after eating” or carry your pint to the table.