Indian Restaurants-London

Amaya. Best meal of my life.

Great India by the Satcchi Gallery.

Kahani is excellent, and is in Belgravia. It was a bit of a splurge for us, but not that much, and was so good.

I wonder, what was your favorite place, and was it nearby?

Dishoom is an obvious suggestion. I'm not the biggest fan of Indian cuisine overall, but Dishoom I found to be delicious.

Dishoom, Dishoom, Dishoom - my husband and I rerouted our trip home from France last summer, just so we could stay overnight in London and eat at one of their locations. The food is out of this world! We like the Kensington and Shoreditch locations best. I highly recommend.

We also have been eating at Punjab in Covent Garden for almost 40 years - it's become the "it" place in the last 7-8 years (unfortunately for us, fortunately for them) so you have to either have a reservation or get in line but it's one of my favorite traditional Indian restaurants in London. For many years, it's been our tradition to eat here on our last night in town then walk to the river to listen to Big Ben strike 10PM.

Dishoom is an obvious choice but they do not take reservations for dinner time. I believe you can make a reservation until about 5:00 or 6:00 PM but after that you have to stand in line to get a table.

Another favorite of mine is Bombay Palace. It is walking distance from Paddington Station.

Penn

Masala Zone is a small chain with various branches across central London. Despite being a chain I think the food is really good.

They predominantly serve thalis, which I really love as an experience. I have taken friends there and they’ve been impressed too.

It's more closer to Heathrow than Central London, but I usually go to a South Indian restaurant in Hounslow called Sangeetha. Always have had a good experience, and it's pretty affordable too. Would recommend if you're ever near the West London area. Try Southall for some Indian restaurants too (also in West London). Another place you can go to is Shayona Restaurant near the BAPS temple in Neasden (near Wembley). I had a nice time there too, although it's a bit less connected with only a few bus routes nearby.

I'd also second Dishoom. I went there when I was staying near St. Pancras in 2017. Absolutely magnificent. Brought back many old memories of Bombay's Parsi cafes.

Shayona is a good recommendation! You can pair it with a visit to the BAPS temple, which is the largest Hindu temple outside of India. But if anyone wants to visit they should note they serve sattvic food, which is vegetarian and has no onion or garlic. It's still very good but might be a bit different to what people are expecting. There's a bus which stops right outside the temple.

For options in central London, I recently went to Fatt Pundit, which was amazing. It's Indian-style Chinese food- so like the kind of Chinese food you would get in India.

Another place with good Indian food nearer to Central London is in the Soho area, which is Govinda's. It is in the Tottenham Court Road/Oxford Circus vicinity. I've been there a couple of times, as it is pretty convenient for my travels by train into London. This also serves simple saathvik food, like Shayona Restaurant in BAPS. But it is pretty tasty (mind the crowds though, because it can be a bit claustrophobic inside).

Dishoom or Gymkhana would be my choice.
Dishoom is a pretty slick operation within a Bombay cafe-Bollywood setting, its a very inviting environment. Curry isn't their strength, their gunpowder Daal is fantatasic, cocktails are also really good.
Gymkhana is more upscale, you could say they set a new standard for premium Indian.
Trishna is Marlyebone I really enjoyed their curries.