Fitzrovia, Indian Restaurant Guide

It’s “always a pleasure to eat the tasty, well-spiced and reliably classy Keralan food” at this “very good value” veteran in a basement near the Telecom Tower. There’s “friendly service in the compact dining area”, although the interior is not going to win design awards any time soon. Top Menu Tips – “love the fritters!”; dosas here are a perennial favourite too.

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.

“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”.

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).

“It needs to be talked about way more”, say fans of this high-quality Indian venture near Selfridges – the first London outpost of New Delhi’s Azure Hospitality (and named for one of Mumbai’s posher ’burbs). Head chef, Avinash Shashidhara “spent 10 years at the River Café and the quality of cooking shows through with some of the tastiest Indian food you can imagine”: “mind-blowing” flavours and “spot-on spicing that’s perfectly balanced and in no way overpowering”. Top Menu Tip – “food from the tandoor is a highlight”.

An “amazing lunchtime buffet” and a good choice of “reliable vegetarian dishes” pull in a regular crowd at this “stalwart” of the ‘Little India’ enclave behind Euston station.

“It’s virtually impossible to spend more than £15 a head” at this “old-school Indian restaurant serving very high-quality vegetarian snacks”. Established in 1971 and “still going strong”, it’s a star of the Drummond Street enclave by Euston station known as ‘Little India’, and has shown major staying power over the decades (including “hanging on through HS2 works and the station redevelopment”). The dated interior is showing its age, but anyone interested in what the 1970s really looked like should pay it a visit.

This “good and very cheap” vegetarian in a “great location” is a 42-year fixture of the ‘Little India’ zone behind Euston station, serving a wide range of bhel puri, thali set meals and south Indian dosas. There’s also a “great buffet at weekends”.

A kati roll is made of skewer-roasted fillings wrapped in a paratha – tasty Indian street food that hits the spot for a small but enthusiastic fan club amongst our reporters. With branches in Soho and Bethnal Green, they are imports from a four-strong Manhattan-based chain.

An “interesting menu” – with “the spicing just right” – is offered at this “great concept”, serving the cuisine developed by the historic Hakka Chinese community in Kolkata. The only complaint relates to the “very cramped tables” at its two venues, in Soho and Covent Garden.