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best place in london for indian food without paying an arm and a leg

best place in london for indian food without paying an arm and a leg

Old Dec 10th, 2004, 05:59 PM
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best place in london for indian food without paying an arm and a leg

Recommendations please
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Old Dec 10th, 2004, 06:09 PM
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I'm not an Indian food fan, but I saw Punjab (www.punjab.co.uk featured on a Travel Channel show.

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Old Dec 10th, 2004, 06:44 PM
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I really don't know about the "best" place, but we ate Indian two or three times while in London and it was cheap and good. Just happened to be hungry, read the posted menu, the prices were good and took a shot...lucky us, it was good. This probably doesn't help you much but Indian restaurants are all over the place and I guess you could hit a bad one, just like anything else, but if you don't get a specific suggestion from the board you might ask at your hotel or some of the other locals what they suggest...good luck.
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Old Dec 10th, 2004, 06:52 PM
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I love Indian food and eat it at home several times a month, so have some familiarity with it. My favorite in London is Noor Jahan which is on Bina Gardens, I think, not too far from Gloucester tube stop. I think it is well-known as one of the best in London and is relatively cheap (maybe 15-20 pounds total).

There is definitely mediocre Indian food in London, I stopped in a place near my hotel (Millennium Bailey) that was close and attractive, but it wasn't nearly as good as Noor Jahan and about the same price.
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Old Dec 10th, 2004, 07:09 PM
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We had GREAT Indian food at Mela at 152-156 Shaftesbury Ave. by Seicester Square.
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Old Dec 11th, 2004, 01:48 AM
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Mela is very good, but more expensive than most Indian restaurants. If you like Thali's Tale of India near Leiscester square is very good.
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Old Dec 11th, 2004, 07:41 AM
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I'm no great connoiseur of Indian food, but I do like many Indian dishes. I had some very good Indian food at the Veeraswamy restaurant.
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Old Dec 11th, 2004, 11:22 AM
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Mela has good pre-theatre deals. There regular menu doesn't quite fall into the budget category if that's what the OP is looking for.
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Old Dec 11th, 2004, 12:32 PM
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You can eat well on Brick Lane, north of Aldgate East tube station, and on Drummond Street, west of Euston main line station.

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Old Dec 11th, 2004, 12:33 PM
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We very much like the badly-named Standard Indian Restaurant, in Westbourne Grove. The food is terrific and prices are quite moderate. Be sure to order the lamb tikka.
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Old Dec 11th, 2004, 12:46 PM
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There is little market for arms and legs, so you seldom have to pay in that manner. However, kidneys, livers, and other internal organs are another matter. If you wish to keep your internal organs, it is best, then, to pay in cash.

--Marv
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Old Dec 11th, 2004, 04:51 PM
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Ohh, my gawd, it mushbe my berthday!! Thanking you so mush for askhing wherr to get autentic Indian foods. We haff a reshtaraunt herr to get de foods you are sheeking!! Kontact me now by emails to get the besht times to arrive for vindow seatingk and enjoy our paprika curry infused foods and sampel the apple hookah!!

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Old Dec 11th, 2004, 10:21 PM
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tayyab, near brick lane. it's near the islamic mosque there. it's has people out the door and it's fairly inexpensive...two qualities that normally don't go hand in hand w/ indian food.

http://www.tayyabs.co.uk/
Review: http://www.congokid.com/review/indian/

Not far from the hubbub of Brick Lane, Tayyab's has been in business since 1974. This premises in the network of streets off the Whitechapel Road still betrays its pub origins. Serving traditional Pakistani and Punjabi food, it draws its fans from a broad range of ethnicities. The tables, which are crammed together in the large, bright dining room, cater to a multicultural stream of diners who wait patiently along the central aisle, while waiters bearing dishes push past. It's chaotic, but it works. The venue is unlicensed, so my party of five brought bottles of various Spanish and Australian red wines with us. After spicy popadoms, we ordered and shared a broad selection of dishes, including starters of chicken tikka, mutton tikka and masala fish. Main courses included karahi gosht (lamb), karahi keema, karahi chicken, karahi chicken keema, karahi dhal gosht, with side orders of karahi bindi (okra) and plain rice. The dishes were well prepared and there was evidence everywhere of fresh herbs and spices, but I found that while most packed a punch, the intensity of the chilli spicing rather overpowered my taste buds. Each dish is very reasonably priced and the total bill for five came to only about £50. The service is busy and snappy, yet friendly. One of my party had booked our table, but the Tayyab's popularity means a short wait is inevitable.
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Old Dec 11th, 2004, 10:29 PM
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forgot to mention: got the recommendation for tayyab from the tube stop worker at whitechapel. again the best recommendations aren't from tourists who visited cities but the actual locals. just ask around and you'll be suprised.
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Old Dec 12th, 2004, 12:10 AM
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If you seriously want the best "Indian" food, then follow the standard rule for ethnic restaurants anywhere: eat where affluent, demanding and unpretentious members of that ethnicity eat, or where there is hard evidence of serious attention to proper cooking.

In the London area, the first group means Madhu's or The Roxy in Southall, Mirch Masala in Norbury, Amma (Sri Lankan, really) or Radha Krishna Bhavan in Tooting, Green Cabin (again Sri Lankan) in Lewisham, Mobeen (Pakistani) in Forest Gate or Kovalam (Hendon). In the centre, the Indian YMCA in Fitzroy Sq and Anwar's in Grafton Way are mostly patronised by visiting academics and the like from the Subconinent (or at any rate those who aren't now rich enough from software consultancy to eat at a Gordon Ramsay or M-P White place).

Providers of serious cooking to the population at large, and no more patronised by the Asian commiunity than by any other group, include Chowki (Denman St W1) Sagar (King St W6), Cocum (Raynes Park SW20), Rasa (Stoke Newington Church St). Other people rate the Red Fort, but I've always found it dull.

In the centre, Tamarind, Quilon and the Cinnamon Club might be outside your budget, on the brief as you've given it.

Personally, I've never eaten memorable food in Brick Lane, though I've lost count of the number of pleasant times I've had in its generally raucous, but almost universally indifferent, restaurants.

The restaurants in London that get all the Michelin stars serve the kind of food that's available anywhere in the world. London's uniqueness, as far as food's concerned, really lies in the often stellar stuff provided by immigrant cuisine - which mostly means the former empire. In particular, Southern China and the countries of South Asia.

If you just want OK "Indian" food, central London's full of it. If you want food from the region prepared by painstaking chefs who treat their customers, their ingredients and their traditions with respect, it's very difficult to find on a budget in the centre (Chowki, Anwars and the YMCE being among the few exceptions). Good South Asian food is just as expensive to buy and prepare as the food of smaller countries with newer traditions of good eating, like France or Italy.

Many restaurant guides - above all Michelin - are hopeless on South Asian food. IMHO, the best guide is Time Out Eating and Drinking, available at just about every newsagent.
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Old Dec 12th, 2004, 01:58 PM
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I wish I could remember the names of the places. Both were unhurried, and so reasonable for a meal with a nice atmoosphere, linen tableclothes and napkins. I enjoy Indian at home several times a month, so I was surprised to find that in London, rice had to be ordered as a side dish, and the meal was probably $4-$6 U.S. more than at home. I think you probably can't go too far wrong, as both Indian places I tried in London were quite good and a great option, since the pubs tend to stop serving food by 8:30-9 pm. Don't forget to try a nice Indain beer.
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Old Apr 26th, 2017, 03:11 AM
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Not sure I'd trust recommendations from 2004,but it was worth looking at this topped thread to remember Ben Haines.
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Old Apr 26th, 2017, 04:02 AM
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I'm not sure I trust the recommendation from 2017 either. Brilliant in Southall used to be very good but was overtaken by Madhus several years ago. My current fav is a very modest place in Brentford (close to Kew Gardens) with excellent food and another one in Hounslow, convenient to Heathrow if someone is staying in a hotel on the Bath Road and wants to eat locally (and you can ignore the bad taste decor).
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Old Apr 26th, 2017, 04:21 AM
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Monsoon on Brick Lane is our favorite. Wide variety of tasty dishes and the friendly staff make it a part of every one of our trips to London.
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Old May 27th, 2017, 07:46 PM
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Nikki - mine was the last comment here in 2004. Have we since lost Ben Haines?
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