Westerham, Indian Restaurant Guide

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.

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.

“A real winner” – “fine, inventive dishes” make it worth knowing about Dayashakar Sharmer’s Indian in the ’burbs of West Dulwich: a cut-above, both for its location and by the standards of modern local curry houses.

“The food never disappoints” at this better-than-standard Nepalese and Indian specialist on the edge of Blackheath Common. Notwithstanding the choices of artworks and wall hangings, the contemporary interior avoids the classic curry house look.

“Definitely better than your average Indian” – this East Dulwich yearling opened in August 2023 and is the work of Sanjay Gour and Simeron Lily Patel, who have other outlying hits in the form of Ewell’s Dastaan and Sheen’s Black Salt (see also). According to one SE22 resident “it’s certainly the best (and most lauded, rightfully) suburban launch we can think of in the SE postcodes” and generated a large volume of feedback in our annual diners’ poll. “If you’re looking for a bland korma you won’t find it here” – Chef Manmeet Singh Bali’s food is “unusual, if not necessarily hugely authentic, and deliciously spicy. Meanwhile the cocktails are phenomenal for Zone 2!”