Leicester · 2026 city guide
Leicester's South Asian restaurant scene has exceptional depth. Kerala seafood, Delhi street food, Chettinad cooking, vegetarian regional food, Pakistani grills and the British curry-house tradition all have a serious presence here, with many of the strongest restaurants spread beyond the city centre.
Leicester city guide
Four central restaurants cover Kerala seafood, Delhi street food, contemporary Indian dining and a fully vegetarian Kerala specialist.
Granby Street · City Centre
Kayal is one of Leicester's clearest expressions of Kerala's coastal cooking, with seafood, duck, beef, appam and dosa all central to its identity. The cooking has a strong regional character, making this a particularly useful starting point for understanding the depth of South Indian food in the city.
What to look for
Belvoir Street · City Centre
My Delhi brings a much more playful side of North Indian cooking to the centre, taking its cues from Delhi street food, railway dishes and roadside curries. The restaurant won Best Street Food at the 2025 Leicestershire Curry Awards, but the strongest reason to visit is the personality running through the food itself.
What to look for
Church Gate · City Centre
Amrut gives Leicester a polished contemporary Indian option without losing sight of recognisable regional flavours. Small plates, clay-oven cooking and carefully presented mains make it a good counterpoint to the city's older institutions, and it was named Best New Restaurant in the city at the 2025 Leicestershire Curry Awards.
What to look for
Granby Street · City Centre
Herb is fully vegetarian, but its appeal is much broader than that label suggests. The kitchen is rooted in Kerala, with banana-leaf cooking, thalis, dosa and coconut-rich curries giving it a strong regional identity. It is a particularly good choice for diners who want vegetarian food to be the point of the meal rather than an afterthought.
What to look for
Leicester city guide
London Road, Highfields and Welford Road bring together Tamil cooking, Pakistani grills and one of Leicester’s strongest classic curry houses.
London Road · South Leicester
Chettinad brings the cooking of Tamil Nadu into much sharper focus than a generic South Indian label would suggest. Pepper, curry leaves, roasted spices and meat dishes are as important here as dosa, giving the London Road restaurant a clear identity of its own within Leicester's unusually strong southern Indian scene.
What to look for
Highfield Street · Highfields
Pamson is the clearly Pakistani restaurant in this guide, reflecting a Leicester curry culture that extends beyond a neat Indian-only definition. Charcoal grills, karahi, nihari and slow-cooked meat dishes are at the heart of the Highfields restaurant, with the grill section especially useful for sharing across a table.
What to look for
Welford Road · South Leicester
Spice Bazzar is the strongest classic curry-house presence in this selection, but its Sylheti specials give the menu more character than the familiar standards alone. The family-run Welford Road restaurant has deep local support and was named Leicestershire Restaurant of the Year at the 2026 Nation's Curry Awards.
What to look for
Leicester city guide
The final cluster moves into neighbourhood Leicester, from regional Indian cooking around Memory Lane and Uppingham Road to Mumbai street food on Melton Road.
Memory Lane · North Leicester
Chef's Flavour ranges widely, but the strongest parts of the menu are the places where it becomes more specific: Punjabi and Gujarati influences, South Indian seafood, regional lamb dishes and a substantial sizzler section. That breadth makes it particularly useful for groups who want to order across several styles.
What to look for
Uppingham Road · East Leicester
Haryanvi Tadka gives the east of the city a North Indian restaurant with a more specific regional accent. Haryanvi specials sit alongside Punjabi breads, chaap, chole and familiar curries, making this a good place to move away from the more polished city-centre style and towards hearty neighbourhood cooking.
What to look for
Melton Road · North Leicester
Shree Krishna Vada Pav brings a very different kind of Indian meal to Melton Road. The focus is vegetarian Mumbai and Maharashtrian street food rather than a full curry-house menu, with vada pav and misal at the centre. It is casual, specialised and useful precisely because it does not try to be everything at once.
What to look for
Award-recognised restaurants
Separate from Curry House Guide's ten recommendations above, these Leicester restaurants have received recent recognition from third-party curry and hospitality awards.
2026 · Welsh & Midlands Curry Awards
Gipsy Lane · North Leicester
Winner of Curry CNCT Best of East Midlands at the 2026 Welsh & Midlands Curry Awards.
2025 · Leicestershire Curry Awards
Halford Street · City Centre
Named Restaurant of the Year in the city and Best Fine Dining Restaurant in the city at the 2025 Leicestershire Curry Awards.
2025 · Leicestershire Curry Awards
Gipsy Lane · North Leicester
Named Best Vegetarian Restaurant at the 2025 Leicestershire Curry Awards.
Indian food in Leicester
The centre alone shows how varied Leicester can be. Kayal puts Kerala seafood and backwater cooking first, My Delhi brings the capital's street-food and roadside-curry traditions into play, Amrut takes a more contemporary route, and Herb gives vegetarian Kerala cooking a restaurant entirely of its own.
Beyond the centre, Chettinad sharpens the focus on Tamil cooking, Pamson Grill represents Leicester's Pakistani grill and karahi tradition, and Spice Bazzar brings the established British Indian and Bangladeshi curry house into the picture. Chef's Flavour, Haryanvi Tadka and Shree Krishna Vada Pav then add regional curries, sizzlers, North Indian neighbourhood cooking and Mumbai street food further north and east.
How we choose: Curry House Guide considers public reputation, review depth, current food-hygiene standards and what is distinctive about the food. Restaurants cannot pay to qualify for inclusion.
Selection and restaurant details last checked: November 2026.