Indian Restaurants in City
1. Babur
Indian restaurant in Forest Hill
119 Brockley Rise - SE23
“Love having such a unique Indian locally” – this “culinary stalwart of South East London is still going strong after nearly 40 years”. “Staff welcome you like an old friend” and chef Jiwan Lal’s cuisine is “at least as good as that of the West End’s fine dining establishments”, in the view of many locals; and “magnificent value for this level of cooking”. Top Tip – “good value buffet on the weekends”.
3. Cinnamon Kitchen
Indian restaurant in City
9 Devonshire Sq - EC2
“If you’re in the mood for some delicious Indian cuisine”, this duo from Vivek Singh make a more affordable alternative to his flagship Cinnamon Club, pleasing both vegetarians (“great- tasting paneer butter masala”) and omnivores (“the chicken 65 is a particular favourite”). The cavernous City branch can get “incredibly noisy”, but the newer Battersea Power Station branch earns a lot of positive feedback, and is seen as a “viable competitor to Dishoom”, its near neighbour.
4. Colonel Saab
Indian restaurant in
Holborn Hall, 193-197 High Holborn - WC1V
Inspired by his parents’ travels with the Indian army, Roop Partap Choudhary’s extravagantly decorated restaurant has proved an unexpected hit in Holborn’s Victorian former town hall – a venue that has seen a succession of previous occupants fail. “The decor shows the owner’s love for his family heritage; the food shows the passion for true Indian cooking; the service is spectacular”. Its success has led to the late 2023 opening of a second, larger branch just off Trafalgar Square (in the former WC2 branch Jones Family Project, RIP).
5. Benares
Indian restaurant in Mayfair
12a Berkeley Square House, - W1
“Really classy Indian food with a modern twist” from head chef Sameer Taneja is “professionally served” at this Mayfair luminary, which remains near the “top of the pile” as one of the UK’s best known and most respected ‘nouvelle Indians’. It occupies a “large” first-floor space on Berkeley Square, and the setting gives a very stylish and sophisticated impression, well-suited to a special occasion. Top Tip – “superb tasting menu”.
6. The Cinnamon Club
Indian restaurant in Westminster
Old Westminster Library, Great Smith St - SW1
“In the memorable setting of Westminster Library” – “still with book-lined walls” – “few restaurants can beat the ambience of this old room” (one of the Top-40 most commented-on venues in our annual diners’ poll). Opened in 2001, it can genuinely claim to have helped ‘redefine expectations of Indian cooking’ in the UK, thanks to Vivek Singh’s “always-innovative cuisine using seasonal ingredients” (“calling it an Indian restaurant conjures up a misleading picture: this is fine cooking characterised by first-class ingredients and restrained spicing so that delicate flavours can still be enjoyed”). Staff are typically “courteously graceful” (though occasionally “unresponsive” this year) and “the unusual space makes for an atmosphere for calm enjoyment”. “It is worth mentioning the wine list, which includes some fascinating Indian wines that are well worth investigating”.
7. Copper Chimney
Indian restaurant in Shepherd's Bush
Westfield London, Ariel Way - W12
“Authentic cooking from the open kitchen” elevates this Indian venue, easily missed amidst the anonymous units around Westfield Shepherd Bush’s Southern Terrace. It’s the London representative of a chain founded in 1972 in Bombay by JK Kapur (with 15 locations in India) and specialises in North Indian cuisine.
8. Cinnamon Culture
Indian restaurant in Chislehurst
97 High St - BR7
2024 Review: 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.
9. Pravaas
Indian restaurant in Kensington and Chelsea
3 Glendower Place - SW7
Chef-owner Shilpa Dandekar (ex-Quilon and Raymond Blanc) opened this contemporary Indian close to South Ken tube station in early 2024 with 30 covers (plus a 20-seater private dining room in the basement). It‘s her first follow-up to the highly rated Pure Indian Cooking in Fulham High Street – reports please!
10. Light of India
Indian restaurant in Kensington and Chelsea
67/69 Gloucester Road - SW7
2022 Review: Worth knowing about near Gloucester Road tube – this large hotel dining room has been serving Indian cuisine since 1984. Too few reports for a rating, but promising feedback and worth bearing in mind if you are in the vicinity.
11. Cinnamon Bazaar
Indian restaurant in
28 Maiden Lane - WC2E
“A tasty offshoot of the great Cinnamon Club” – Vivek Singh’s “prettily decorated” cafés (“resembling a tropical garden centre cafe!”) offer a “good-value”, “Indian-with-a-twist” menu: “hot curry staples” plus options “reminiscent of street food”. Practically all comments refer to the original – “a go-to in Covent Garden” for its very many fans – but he also opened in Richmond this year, taking over the former Carluccio’s venue diagonally opposite the station. One caution in reports – it looks time to pep up the decor in WC2 – it risks looking a bit “shabby”.
12. Pure Indian Cooking
Indian restaurant in Fulham
67 Fulham High Street - SW6
“Focusing on the food alone, this is right up there with the best” agree fans of chef-patronne Shilpa Dandekar’s low-key Indian seven-year-old – on the trafficky segment of Fulham High Street leading up to Putney Bridge. It’s “really worth a visit” to sample her “unusual but delicious” cooking. Shilpa’s training combined Indian and European culinary traditions (Taj Group and Le Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons). Her husband and co-founder, Faheem Vanoo, runs the front of house.
13. Brigadiers
Indian restaurant in City
Bloomberg Arcade, Queen Victoria Street - EC2R
The cooking is awesome and “the bar is mega!” according to the many fans of this JKS outpost in the Bloomberg Arcade. Modelled on an Indian Army mess, “it’s always been a very masculine, ‘City boys’ type place (some evenings the male:female ratio is at gay-bar disparities!)”. The quality of the “inauthentic but deliciously tasty” cooking is undisputed, but there’s lively debate about what’s best on the menu: “the short rib curry is the stand-out here”; no, “the biryani in pie crust is the best Indian dish in town”.
14. Mint Leaf Lounge
Indian restaurant in City
Angel Court, Lothbury - EC2
2022 Review: Striking design and high-quality cuisine make it worth knowing about this nouvelle Indian cocktail lounge and restaurant, hidden away behind the Bank of England.
15. temper City
BBQ restaurant in City
Angel Court - EC2R
“Fire-cooked” steaks, supplied from North Yorkshire, aged in-house and supplemented by “inventive” side dishes (tacos, parathas and more), are what put Neil Rankin’s BBQ group on the map, with its fifth site opening in Paddington Basin last winter followed by a smashburger spinoff in White City. But even fans can note that what “was once a firm favourite has declined” – service is often “a bit all over the place” and dishes can arrive “lacking genuine flavour”.
16. Est India
Indian restaurant in London Bridge
73-75 Union Street, Flat Iron Square - SE1
2021 Review: If the food market in Flat Iron Square doesn’t take your fancy, remember this consistently good modern basement Indian, serving a wide mix of options, including a number of south Indian dishes like dosas; good with families too.
17. Baba G's
Indian restaurant in Southwark
Vinegar Yard, 72-82 St Thomas Street - SE1
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.
18. Baluchi, Lalit Hotel London
Indian restaurant in Bermondsey
181 Tooley St - SE1
“The food is served with a bit of theatre” in this splendid old school hall not far south of Tower Bridge (Grade II listed and part of what was once St. Olave’s Grammar School) – nowadays a contemporary Indian venue that’s part of Lalit Hotel Group’s flagship UK property. It’s consistently well-reviewed in our annual diners’ poll, but at less busy times can seem “quiet”.
19. Gunpowder
Indian restaurant in City
11 Whites Row - E1
“Novel dishes full of spice and intrigue” draw a “buzzy” crowd to this “refreshingly innovative” and hugely successful modern Indian trio: an “elevated street-food experience that’s really good fun”. The “tiny but perfectly formed” Spitalfields original is “still the best”, say fans, but the food also hits the spot at “tapas-style” venues in Soho and Tower Bridge.
20. Gunpowder
Indian restaurant in Southwark
One Tower Bridge, 4 Crown Square - SE1
“Novel dishes full of spice and intrigue” draw a “buzzy” crowd to this “refreshingly innovative” and hugely successful modern Indian trio: an “elevated street-food experience that’s really good fun”. The “tiny but perfectly formed” Spitalfields original is “still the best”, say fans, but the food also hits the spot at “tapas-style” venues in Soho and Tower Bridge.
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