Aldwych, Indian - Restaurant Guide

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.

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 “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”.

“You’ll almost always find a queue of people waiting for a table and a palpable energy of excitement in the room” when you visit these “vibrant” and “exotic”-feeling Indian favourites, which “whisk you to Bombay and back”. Cousins Shamil & Kavi Thakrar started in Covent Garden in 2010 and their growing group has become the most commented-on business in our annual diners’ poll, complete with seven London branches, three outside town; their ‘Permit Rooms’ spinoff brand, and turnover of over £100m. The interior design, a homage to Mumbai’s Irani cafés, absolutely slaps – “wherever you sit it’s quirky” and even though the busy scene can become “a bit of a zoo”, it’s all so upbeat that “you leave feeling good about your meal and yourself!”. Dishes are “bursting with flavour” and served by “efficient” waiting staff “who know their stuff”. The menu is “deliciously different”, although so many Londoners have now sampled it that once-arcane items like the “legendary black dahl (so rich and filling!)” are now part of London’s culinary canon. And what better way to start a new day than with an “unbeatable bacon and egg naan roll” – a high watermark of dining out invention of the last 50 years that’s core to their “game-changing breakfasts” (“you will never want an English bacon roll again”!).

“Something a bit different when it comes to Indian food” – this wood-panelled chop-house off Trafalgar Square specialises in “tender meat from the tandoor oven (no wet curry sauces!), and at reasonable prices for central London”. The dishes are “packed with flavour” and in “generous portions”. Top Menu Tip – “the crispy lamb chops are a must”.

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”.