King's Cross, Indian - Restaurant Guide

“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”!).

“Tasty, freshly prepared Sri Lankan food in a fun environment” has spelled success for this trio from JKS Restaurants, which have done much to popularise Sri Lankan and south Indian cuisine in the capital over the past decade (a hopper is a street-food pancake). The original Soho venue is “vibrant and intimately packed (at times a little too much so)”, while the newer branch at Coal Drops Yard in King’s Cross has a terrace where “on a warm summer’s day, sitting at an outside table with fresh bites and a cold pint is just excellent”. Top Menu Tip – “the short eats – hot butter squid, lamb kothu roti, bone marrow varuval – are absolute knockouts”; the best-sellers are the hoppers and the dosa dishes.

“Utterly delicious” south Indian food in “small portion sizes, which encourages you to order almost everything on the menu”, makes it “tricky to get a table” at this majorly successful three-year-old Barnsbury pub conversion, which has spawned a trio of spinoffs (Tamil Crown, Tamila, see also). “Moderate pricing” is part of the appeal and it’s “lively and fun” (if “a bit clattery for real comfort”) – so it’s “well worth booking weeks in advance” to taste the “great lamb chops, prawns” and much else. Top Tip – “breakfast is a more recent addition to the offering: the Uttapam is heavenly”.

A sibling to the Clapham original and the more ambitious Tamil Prince: a South-Indian-inspired opening near King’s Cross station. Led by executive chef Prince Durairaj, the menu at Tamila Curry features made-to-order roti, curries, and dishes such as Thanjavur chicken curry and Chettinad lamb curry. Too limited feedback for a rating, but such as we have says, it’s “very good all round” especially for a “cheap and cheerful” meal.