Fitzrovia, Indian Restaurant Guide

“A genuine legend serving authentic South Indian food at reasonable prices” – this “long-established” Keralan near the Telecom Tower dispenses “tasty, high-quality” meals in dated surroundings (“don’t worry about the formica tables”). There is the odd concern raised that “the food is no longer what it was” but most reports are remorselessly upbeat. Top Menu Tip – “incredible masala dosa”.

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’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).

“The starters and small plates are stars of the show” at this “hidden gem in Fitzrovia” (named after a chic Mumbai ’burb) – so “just order loads of small plates and the most amazing flakey bread this side of heaven”. The “very tasty spicing and good tandoori action” here makes “a welcome change from the usual Chicken Tikka Masala menus” (while the departure of much-fêted founding chef Avinash Shashidhara last year doesn’t yet seem to have presented a problem for Azure Hospitality, the Delhi-based owners).

“A classic old-school Indian, with service to match” in the ‘Little India’ pocket behind Euston station, this “really takes you back” with its “good (and good value) South Indian vegetarian food”. Top Tip – “great lunchtime veggie buffet”.

“I’ve been eating here since the 1970s!” is quite the boast in senior vegetarian circles, where there’s much respect for this “Euston institution” in the Drummond Street enclave, where you can find a “good meal – starter, thali and drink – for less than £25 a head”. If anyone has changed the decor since it first opened in 1971, you’d never know. Top Tip – “bring your own bottle (or order the mango lassi)”.

“Drummond Street, behind Euston station, is known by some as ‘Little India’ thanks to its concentration of good-quality and cheap Indian restaurants – Ravi Shankar is one of them, with an excellent vegetarian menu featuring good thali meals and dosas”. It’s a “lovely place”, too, run by “cheerful people”.

2024 Review: 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.

“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!!”).

The “excellent”, “very flavourful” dishes at this duo in Soho and Covent Garden provide an “interesting and novel” answer to the question: “what is Indian food?” – showcasing, as they do, the distinctive Indo-Chinese cuisine developed by Hakka Chinese immigrants in Kolkata.

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”.