![]() ![]() ![]() The wood-panelled ground-floor dining room, with its ceiling fans, sepia photographs and rattan-trimmed booths, is meant to recall the colonial-era sports clubs of days-of-the-Raj India, but downstairs is 21 st-century London through and through (and Mayfair at that), a seductively low-lit lounge where throbbing Euro beats make eavesdropping on the A-listers impossible. There had been smart Indian restaurants before Gymkhana but nowhere that had been cool all that changed when the millennial Sethi siblings opened on Albemarle Street in 2013 and ushered the likes of Taylor Swift, Jude Law and the Beckhams down Gymkhana’s secret staircase. Even if you don’t have a window seat, there’s plenty to catch the eye in the wood-panelled, chandelier-lit room, not least a white marble bar that is a destination in its own right for well-made cocktails, while service is excellent: politely friendly and expert on describing each dish.ġ Kensington High Street, W8 5NP, Gymkhana Along with Tamarind, Zaika was the first Indian restaurant to win a Michelin star, back in 2001 both restaurants are now under the same ownership and while some of the tricksy menu descriptions suggest an ambition to regain the star lost in 2004, the results are thankfully more straightforward than expected, and all the more enjoyable for it: wild Madagascan tiger prawn with a green “marination” of coriander, mint and chill is really just an exceptional prawn kebab. In other words, forget that chicken tikka.Ī reminder of the days from around the turn of the century when every bank closure seemed to result in a restaurant opening, Zaika occupies impressively proportioned premises over the road from Kensington Gardens that are at their nicest in summer when the trees opposite are in full leaf. So, from Michelin-starred Mayfair fine-dining to regional street food restaurants and some of the finest vegetarian cooking on the planet, follow the spice route to our pick of the best Indian restaurants in the capital. Travel broadens the waist as well as the mind. But much as we love Dishoom, Gunpowder and Kricket, they’re already so well known that we’ve left them out of this list to find space for the neighborhood restaurants worth an hour of anyone’s time on the tube to discover something new (and, yes, usually cheap). That said, there is now also a posse of quality mid-market Indians, tailor-made for millennial tastes by combining cool interiors with small-plates cooking and counter dining. Tamarind and Zaika were the first Indian restaurants in the UK to win Michelin stars in 2001, while smart Indian dining today is dominated by MW Eat (Amaya, Chutney Mary, Masala Zone, Veeraswamy) and JKS Restaurants (BiBi, Brigadiers, Gymkhana and Trishna, as well as the Sri Lankan Hoppers). ![]() Veeraswamy, recently re-furbished to celebrate its 95 th anniversary, was founded by an Indian princess in 1916 the India Club on the Strand, meanwhile, has been one of the capital’s most consistently satisfying cheap eats since 1946 and its future is (hopefully) secure after a spirited round of crowdfunding that took place over lockdown.Īnd yet while Indian cuisine remains a safe bet for the value-conscious - the Gujarati communities of north-west London and South Indian cafés of Tooting and East Ham offer rich pickings for tiny budgets - the past two decades have seen Indian cooking move into the high end. In 21 st century London, “Indian” seems a woefully broad term for a cuisine spanning 28 states of the world’s second most populous country - much of which can be sampled in the capital.īritain’s colonial legacy means that Indian restaurants have a venerable history in London. ![]() Gone are the days when the dubious statistic that chicken tikka masala was Britain’s most popular dish was trumpeted as equally dubious proof of the UK’s multicultural palate. Grilled greatness: Tandoor Chop House (Handout) ![]()
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