Oxted, Indian Restaurant Guide

This suburban subcontinental offers an unusual take on Indian street food, having been set up by three brothers keen to pay homage to their grandmother’s cooking, inflected by her travels in Africa and Saudi Arabia; its “authentic” recipes attract nothing but positive reports.

This contemporary curry house wins solid ratings for its food, with unusual chef’s signature dishes including a mixed grill of achari ostrich filet, chicken tikka and lamb chop. Family-run, it transferred to Chislehurst after a decade in Plaistow Lane, Bromley.

“Just amazing food bursting with flavour… and in generous portions” inspires very enthusiastic reports for Dayashakar Sharmar’s ambitious Dulwich Indian – “it’s so good for a local!” – and its small-but-dedicated fan club travel from across south east London.

“Well worth a detour by car, bus and/or train to eat in this small restaurant near Tolworth” – “looking just like your typical, noisy curry house on a dual carriageway… except that it is fully booked every night”. “From pani puri to chicken Chettinad, the flavours are exquisite” with “a lasting intensity that can leave you punchdrunk”. It’s not utterly ridiculous to hail it as “the very best Indian food in the UK at any price point, and yet it’s still very reasonably priced compared with the Indian palaces of Marylebone and Knightsbridge”. Top Menu Tip – “the lamb chops are an absolute must”.

“Always delicious”, this well-known Pakistani canteen on Tooting’s ‘curry corridor’ offers the “same fun and good-value food as it has for years”. A favourite of local boy-made-mayor Sadiq Khan (so come on foot or by public transport), it has an offshoot in Coulsdon, on London’s southern fringe.

2023 Review: “Very helpful staff” add to the appeal of this Balham High Street Indian, of over 15 years’ standing. Whether it should be a perennial inclusion in TripAdvisor’s top 10 London restaurants is debatable, but the (limited) feedback we receive says it’s worth a visit.

This Nepalese venue in Blackheath Village is popular with locals, who rate it “a cut above” standard curry-house fare. Ideal after a stroll on the common it overlooks.

This “fabulous, family-run” curry house near Wandsworth Common has built a loyal local following over the years for its “delicious food” and “always charming” welcome.

“Clever, subtly infused curries a wonderful step up from your local Indian” (“the flavours of every option are incredible with each dish spiced to perfection”) have catapulted this project by university friends Will Bowlby and Rik Campbell from a Brixton pop-up to three thriving tapas-style restaurants, including a Soho flagship with cocktail bar, in less than 10 years.

“A true neighbourhood go-to” – in her 20th anniversary year, Peckham food pioneer Clare Fisher is “still doing things with South Indian flavours that make the heart sing”. Top Tip – “don’t forget to buy a jar of homemade garlic or beetroot pickle to take home”.

2021 Review: “Everything here is great, but I totally loved the paneer burger” – an alternative to the best-selling bhangra burger on the menu of these popular pop-ups, in POP Brixton and now also Vinegar Yard, SE1. After over ten years in the game, the business shifted up a gear in May 2019 with the opening (flush with £300k of investment having won BBC2’s ‘My Million Pound Menu’) of the new forever-home listed here: a 50-seater in Camden Town’s Stables Market.

The latest opening from the team behind Putney’s popular Chook Chook ‘Indian Railway Kitchen’ is a flamboyant Balham hangout in the former premises of long-serving Lamberts (RIP). A café by day, it switches in the evening to ‘high-end’ modern cuisine with an “interesting South Indian influence”, under head chef Imran Mansuri, whose Mayfair-heavy CV takes in Jamavar, Tamarind and Annabel’s.