Covent Garden, Indian Restaurant Guide

“So charismatic” TV-chef Asma Khan’s meteoric rise continues with the autumn 2020 opening of a “beautiful”, new, 120-seat flagship (to take over from her old Soho premises) on the prominent Covent Garden site that once housed a large Carluccio’s. The kitchen is still all-female, and “there is so much love and gratitude in the room for Asma and her team” and their “home-style but brilliantly flavoursome concoctions” (from £3.50 snacks in the deli to a £95 tasting menu in the restaurant). Top Tip – “try the lunch/brunch chilli cheese toastie or keema toastie”.

“Great-value South Indian vegetarian food at its best” is served at this long-running group with venues in Covent Garden, Fitzrovia, Hammersmith and Harrow. “Not at all your typical Indian restaurants”, they serve “food to convince that vegetarian and vegan cooking is good”, made with “fresh ingredients, lightly spiced and producing great flavours” – so “don’t let the decor put you off!”. Top Tip: “the dosas are a must”.

“The new Covent Garden branch of Dishoom is spectacular and the food is still ace” – our poll’s most commented-on chain continues to win overwhelmingly rapturous reviews. It helps that the “very different” Indian menu is a winner: “super-tasty” and “excellent value”, with the “out-of-the-box” breakfast options a particular fave rave (“have a bacon naan and a cup of chai, and the world feels a better place”). But, actually, the stand-out feature is the “always buzzing and fun” atmosphere at its individually designed branches; and post-lockdown, WC2 took the wraps off a successful makeover, which mines the heritage of Bombay theatres and early Bollywood talkies. It helps that service is “slick”, from “courteous and attentive staff who never push what they want to sell”. The catch? “painful and lengthy queues” for walk-ins which have, if anything, worsened since they introduced reservations in all locations.

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.

This Covent Garden institution lays claim to being the oldest north Indian restaurant in London, est. 1946, and is now run by the great-grandson of the founder. It owes its staying power to the “great Punjabi regional dishes” on the menu – “a friend was so impressed, he said it was nearly as good as his grandmother’s cooking” – and these days there are also “interesting vegan and vegetarian options”.

The “incredibly tasty food” at this Anglo-Indian hybrid, in “small but lovely” premises near Trafalgar Square (with a newer offshoot in Notting Hill), draws an appreciative crowd. “It doesn’t have curries, but specialises in tandoori-baked meat”. Top Tip: “you have to order the lamb chops, they’re brutal!”

“So special and deserving to be saved” – this truly “iconic venue for a meal”, up a flight of stairs in the Strand, has barely changed since its foundation in 1951, when Prime Minister Nehru and Lady Mountabatten were among the members. Fans say the “food is reliably amazing”, but it’s as a “cheap” venue for a meal in a distinctively grungy setting that it wins such loyalty. For several years now it has been under threat of closure from a landlord who wants to develop the site as a new hotel, and in 2021 a crowdfunding campaign raised £50,000 towards legal fees to fight against eviction. The club and its bar have been run by three generations of the same family since launch. BYO from the hotel bar.