Kent · 2026 county guide
Kent's strongest Indian restaurants are spread right across the county, from Tenterden and West Malling to Medway, Canterbury and the coast. Bangladeshi house specialities sit alongside South Indian roots, Odia cooking, Mumbai street food, Goan seafood and regional dishes from across India.
Independent recommendations from across Kent.
Restaurants cannot pay to qualify for the Curry House Guide.
West Kent & the Weald
Tenterden and West Malling offer two quite different takes on Indian dining: Bangladeshi-led house specialities in the Weald and polished Bengali and modern Indian cooking in West Malling.
Tenterden · Kent
The Raja of Kent is at its most interesting away from the familiar curry-house staples. Its Bangladeshi-led specialities move through lamb with pumpkin, crab, fish, game and other less expected ingredients, giving the menu a character of its own rather than simply a longer list of standard curries.
What to look for
West Malling · Kent
Desh combines a polished modern dining room with a menu that has plenty of Bengali and regional interest. Seafood is particularly worth exploring, while the house curries move beyond the usual high-street choices with dishes built around achar, slow-cooked meat and coastal flavours.
What to look for
North Kent & Medway
Gravesend, Chatham and Gillingham have some of the county's broadest menus, from NH44's playful regional fusion to Goan flavours in Chatham and chaat with coastal seafood curries in Gillingham.
Gravesend · Kent
NH44 takes its name from the highway that runs through multiple regions of India, a neat fit for a menu that mixes regional references with playful modern ideas. Founders Siva and Vani bring Chennai and Hyderabad roots, while the current offering moves between Indian comfort food and fusion dishes that are much less predictable than a standard curry-house menu.
What to look for
Chatham · Kent
Doon Delight has enough range to reward a bit of menu exploration, from chaat, dosa and Indo-Chinese starters to Goan cooking, seafood curries and slow-cooked lentils. The strongest choices give the restaurant a broader identity than its polished Indian fine-dining presentation might initially suggest.
What to look for
Gillingham · Kent
The Royal Garhwal's menu is strongest when it leaves familiar curry-house territory. Chaat and street-food dishes give the opening section some personality, while the seafood mains travel further south and west through coconut, tamarind, mustard seed and curry-leaf flavours.
What to look for
Canterbury & East Kent
Canterbury has two notably modern restaurants, including a rare Odia specialist, while the Dover end of East Kent brings Mumbai street food and a more casual style of Indian cooking.
Canterbury · Kent
The Cook's Tale is one of Kent's clearest departures from the standard Indian restaurant template. Chef Dev Biswal's current menu focuses on the food of Odisha, including street-food dishes, thalis, mustard-led seafood and poda cooking over fire. The restaurant also runs hands-on cookery classes with Chef Dev, covering classic Indian, vegetarian and vegan, and seafood cooking.
What to look for
Canterbury · Kent
Sekkoya mixes recognisable Indian comfort food with a more contemporary collection of chaat, small plates and regional curries. The menu ranges from Bombay and Punjabi references to Goan and Malabar seafood, with the railway curries providing another route away from the usual restaurant standards.
What to look for
Swingate / Dover · Kent
Chef De Mumbai brings a more casual Mumbai-influenced identity to this part of East Kent. The menu is particularly useful for street-food favourites before moving into grills and curries, with enough less-common dishes to make it worth looking beyond the headline classics.
What to look for
Folkestone & Hythe
Folkestone and Hythe offer two very different coastal restaurants: a small chef-led kitchen with a loyal following and a Hythe menu that travels confidently through several Indian regions.
Folkestone · Kent
Saurav Ki Rasoi is a small, chef-led Folkestone restaurant whose cooking has attracted an unusually strong local following. Its compact selection moves between street-food dishes, curries and sweets, with recent dishes showing a willingness to go well beyond the safest curry-house choices.
What to look for
Hythe · Kent
Coppers has one of the most regionally varied menus in Kent. Its current dishes travel through Rajasthan, Sindh, Hyderabad, Gujarat, Bengal and the south of India, with gamey meat dishes, seafood and vegetable cooking all receiving more attention than the usual generic curry-house categories.
What to look for
Thanet
Flavours by Kumar gives Ramsgate one of the county's most varied regional Indian menus, particularly strong on seafood and dishes from southern and western India.
Ramsgate · Kent
Flavours by Kumar is built around regional Indian cooking rather than a single curry-house template. The menu travels from Karnataka and Goa to Bengal, Mangalore and Tamil Nadu, with chef Anil Kumar giving seafood and regional meat dishes as much space as familiar favourites.
What to look for
Indian food in Kent
Kent's Indian restaurant scene is unusually dispersed, with strong restaurants in market towns, Medway, historic Canterbury and coastal communities rather than one obvious dining district.
The food is equally broad. Bengali seafood and Bangladeshi house dishes sit alongside Odia fire cooking, Mumbai street food, Goan curries, South Indian influences and modern restaurants that pull ideas from several Indian regions.
How we choose: Curry House Guide considers public reputation, review depth, food-hygiene standards and what is distinctive about the food. Restaurants cannot pay to qualify for inclusion.
Selection and restaurant details last checked: October 2026.