SiobhanP

Hi folks just doing some research on restaurants for our new years trip to London. My other half loves Indian food and I miss my friends mothers Gujarati cooking Not sure what style it is in London or a mix like over here. Preferably I am looking for a fun cheap and cheerful place in Central London or Kensington.

Also it has been years since I was in Chinatown and I am missing "real" Chinese food here in Dublin. I ate in Feng Shui a few years back but that is all I remember.

Also yes I am still a steak eating veggie. I know it makes no sense! Any veggie place you can reccommend.

Has anyone eaten in that Polish Place in Kensington or Knightbridge? I thought it was called Daquise?

Maybe Kavey or Kate or David West, you could suggest anyplaces that you would go for?

Gekko

My favorite Indian restaurant in London has to be <b>Red Fort on Dean Street.

I wouldn't call it &quot;cheap,&quot; but according to a recent review, the food is &quot;stupendous.&quot;

Very cool atmosphere as well. </b>

OReilly

Hi Shiobhan:

I have a london trip report on here from a couple of months ago. If you feel like treating yourself one night and doig &quot;expensive&quot;, here are some suggestions.

Loved Fung Shing, on Lisle Street (http://www.londonrestaurantsguide.co...Advert_640.asp). The waiter was from mainland China and had spent some years in Waterford - what an accent Moderately priced.


If you like Thai, Patara: Fine Thai Dining (two locations) was excellent. Also visited Mango tree on a subsequent visit (both expensive).

The crowning glory was the Cinnamon Club
http://www.cinnamonclub.com/index1.html : incredible food and experience and also expensive.

Have a lovely trip.

regards Ger

anotherjudy

Hi, Siobhan.
I have eaten several times at Noor Jihan and loved it. Unfortunately, I can't give you an address - my London map hasn't found its way back to my office. It is off Brompton Rd.
Last trip to London my daughter and I ate at Wagamama - they have good vegetarian. There are several locations.
Have a great New Years trip!
Judy

MaureenB

We found an excellent Indian restaurant down the street from our B&amp;B, the Hyde Park Radnor. It's called the “Noorjahan 2” at 26 Sussex Place. I had an amazing prawn dish with shrimp so big you'd think they were lobster tails, in this incredible sauce. (And this from someone who thought she didn’t like Indian food!)

Tallulah

Hi Siobhan

Above suggestions all good - and I'd like to add a few - certainly the Indian suggestions are all really good value:

INDIAN

Chowki:
http://www.squaremeal.co.uk/restaura...?Rest_ID=82262

Masala Zone
http://www.squaremeal.co.uk/restaura...?Rest_ID=80866

Rasa (this is widely acclaimed to be the best vegetarian Indian in London but it's a bit of a treck to Stoke Newington)
http://www.squaremeal.co.uk/restaura...?Rest_ID=81100


CHINESE

Yauatcha (fabulous DimSum rather than 'traditional' Chinese)
http://www.squaremeal.co.uk/restaura...?Rest_ID=82949

Imperial China
http://www.squaremeal.co.uk/restaura...?Rest_ID=82488

To be honest though, there are so many Indian and Chinese restaurants that you won't go far wrong.

I'm afraid I'm not overly familiar with the restaurants in Kensington.

Tallulah

Forgot to say, I believe that there is a large Gujarati community in Wembley and Hendon, so you'll certainly be able to find a restaurant there specialising in that style of cooking. Try a google search?

david_west

Royal China in China Town is really really good. Pricey though. Outside of China town itself (which is touristy) a lot of locally based Chinese people go to queensway where there are several excellent chinese restaurants (Queensway tube station (central line) is closed at the moment but it’s just a short walk from Bayswater)

For Indian food you may want to consider a bit of an expedition…..

For South Indian veggie food the mecca is Drummond St – by Euston Station which is a little street of restaurants selling indian veggie food, Bel pooris, Dhosas etc.

The two best places for Indian food in london (that I know of) are Tooting and Southall. Tooting’s on the northern Line and Southall is on the overground train (from Paddington I think). Both areas have high concentrations of Indian and other asian people and there are a lot of very good restaurants there (sorry I can’t remember names)

isabel

Wagamama - there are several locations, South Kensington, Knightsbridge, etc. Cheap, great food. They have a web site, google it.

SiobhanP

Thanks to all. Ger I think Fung SHui is what I meant...it was a long time ago and a foodie friend took me there. Very funny about the accent. I was reccommended one good place in Dublin recently thatI have not tried yet by a Chinese friend. Imperial on Wicklow Street if you are interesed on your next visit.

I have heard about the Cinnamon club but thought it was a tarted up version of a regular joe average Indian place. Good to know this may be fun for a night out. My partner never gets to eat much Indian in Dublin- its not always the best over here in my opinion, so it will be a feast for him in London.

Tallulah - Thanks again for the advice and the Gujarati area. I may give it a miss if its that far out. I will have to visit my friends mum for a meal when I go back to the states.

Has anyomne heard of that Polish place. I have heard of one on and off over the years and think I walked by it years ago and was just curious to try it.

Cheers

S

Tallulah

Don't know Daquise I'm afraid but it seems to have very mixed reviews!

http://www.london-eating.co.uk/2822.htm

flanneruk

Be careful of the Cinnamon Club.

It's in the process of management restructuring, and has some serious financial problems (reported in one paper to be not a lot short of a million quid owing to the taxmen, though a restaurant spokesman claimed it was a good bit less). The last review I saw was OK for quality (just) but simply horrendous for price (couple of hundred quid for 2).

Best posh Indian I've eaten at lately is Jamuna in Southwick St, near Paddington. Not cheap (&pound;80 for 2). But seriously excellent food.

Talullah's specific recommendations I agree with: but she's quite wrong to say you can't go far wrong. There are an AWFUL lot of seriously crappy Indians, and some lousy Chinese, in the West End.

There are no decent Gujeratis in the West End. Chowki might be doing a Gujerati month (they ring the changes on regional cuisines). But for home cooking, try Dadima (020 8902 1072) in Ealing Road Wembley. There are a number of other Gujaratis along Ealing Road. But there's also now Gujerati restaurant colonisation elsewhere in NW London: Kathuyawadi (named after a Gujerati sub-region) in Rayners Lane (Rayners Lane tube): Ram's at Kenton Rd Harrow and Sakonis at Dominion Parade, Station Road, Harrow (warning: Station Road goes on a long way so you absolutely need a good A-Z)

If you're flying into or out of Heathrow, I strongly recommend getting the Heathrow Connect and getting off at Southall, where there's an intriguing cluster of East African-Indian places (those Indian-origin people the moronic Kenyan and Ugandan dictators expelled in the late 60s). Palm Palace currently gets the best reviews, but I still like the original Brilliant.

I've often wondered about Daquise too. I've had tasty borscht there years ago, and it doesn't seem to have changed. There are a couple of traditional places in Ealing, where the first wave of mid-War Polish migrants settled (handy to the RAF bases) and where the 2nd and 3rd generations still come back to visit Grandad. Cafe Grove in The Grove, for example.

Among posh Chinese, no-one's mentioned Hakkasan (Hanway Place). Mid-price: the truly remarkable, and too often ignored by critics, Phoenix Palace in Glentworth St, near Baker St tube. No visit to Chinatown is complete without going to the Wong Kei. If you have American blood, it's the perfect way of sloughing off that ridiculous obsession with service too many Americans are laden down with.

Young HK-ers mostly hang out at the Cafe de HK, 47 Charing Cross Rd.

Tallulah

flanner: You know, actually you are right. I'm not quite sure why I said that. Have had a very long day and am clearly losing my mind!

flanneruk

Talullah:

Phew!!! I was worried you'd turned into one of those gushing, never criticise anything, posters you can get on Fodor's. Glad to see the British acerbity is still there.

Siohan:
On veggie stuff, BTW. I had a seriously disappointing veggie buffet the other week at the biggest Drummond St place (the one at the NW of the street), though the Ravi Shankar's always been OK. It's terribly easy for veg places to just chuck a lot of cheap veg into a lot of gravy.

If you're off meat and fish, go to any decent Indian and just don't eat meat or fish is usually the best motto. Some guides rave over yje all-veg Sagar at King St Hammersmith (handy, of course, for the Piccadilly Line to/from LHR), but I've never made it out that far.

OReilly

Jeez Flanner, do you EVER eat at home

SO disappointed to hear abut the Cinnamon Club. Its not really true Indian, but Indian fusion. Do you know any other restaurants of that type? On my visit, the bill for one was about 50 GBP including two glasses of wine - really reasonable for that standard of fare.

Siobhan, I am pretty sure I must have been at the Imperial at some stage. We go to Good World, but my BIL, who is Chinese, orders from the Chinese menu, so the food we get is pretty good.

Kavey and I went to Shanghai Blue the last time I was in London and we stuffed ourselves. The food was 50% off from Top Table web site (?), so the bill was quite reasonable: http://www.toptable.co.uk/details.cf...CD738807380089

Regards Ger

Underhill

For good Chinese food, head to Chuen Cheng Ku, just off Leicester Square.

luckykat

For some real chinese, Mr Kong, on Lisle street near Chinatown.

Posh indian, Benares in Mayfair or Tamarind

Not so posh indian - Aladdins Balti House on Brick lane. yes, most of the restaurants on Brick Lane are rather dodgy but Aladdins is a great no nonsense, cheap BYO indian restaurant. And did I mention, fantastic food?

Vegetarian - Food 4 Thought on Neal Street in Covent Garden

Lots of my personal restaurant &amp; bar reviews are posted on my website. You can find the ones for London at http://www.mcdougalladventures.com/category/england

carolyn

For Chinese, last year Kavey met my daughter and me at Gerrard's Corner in Chinatown where we had a lovely dim sum lunch.

We went back there last month for the Fodors GTG dinner and shared a number of dishes, all of which I liked.

walkinaround

in kensington, i have been to both daquise (once) and wodka (several times). daquise is more home style and wodka is a bit more stylish. i prefer wodka. the woman who runs it is very friendly and i've always had a good time. do book as it gets very busy at times (mostly local trade or people who make it a destination). if you visit wodka, be sure to have a drink at the builder's arms diagonally across the street...it is an excellent (although more modern) pub, and one of my favourites in london.

wong kei's reputation for rude service (re:flanner's post) is an exaggeration and out of date. i would say the service is hurried but no more rude or hurried than most chinese places. it's one of those things that everyone says on reputation (even people who have never been there) but it is not the reality....in my experience of countless visits. be prepared that you will share a large round table with many other diners. i mention this only because the number of people who walk in and get scared and walk out is staggering. it's really quite fun and most people keep to themselves. the staff are very good (it seems) at keeping, for example, lager louts at separate tables from couples.

artlover

We went to an excellent Indian restaurant--Mela at 152-156 Shaftesbury Ave. near the Leicester Square tube station. Everything we had was delicious and I was only sorry I couldn't finish it! Fairly reasonably priced too (for London).