London · 2026 guide
London does not have one Indian restaurant scene. It has dozens of them. This guide brings together standout restaurants from across the capital, from long-standing neighbourhood curry houses and vegetarian institutions to Kerala specialists, modern gastropubs and contemporary fine dining.
Independent recommendations from across London.
London guide
Central London ranges from deeply regional cooking to polished modern Indian dining, with Tamil flavours, northern traditions, tandoor cooking and contemporary interpretations all represented.
Bloomsbury
Chettinad keeps the focus on home-style South Indian cooking, with the bold flavours of Tamil Nadu sitting alongside dishes from across the south. The Percy Street dining room is relaxed and unfussy, leaving the food to do the talking.
What to look for
Westminster
Inside the restored Old Westminster Fire Station, Yaatra gives northern Indian cooking a polished setting. Chef Krishnapal Negi's menus draw on Punjab, Kashmir and the Himalayan belt, balancing regional tradition with a refined modern style.
What to look for
Fetter Lane
City Masala mixes a modern City dining room with a menu that still understands the pleasures of a proper curry house. Tandoor cooking, curries and familiar classics make it a particularly useful address around the legal quarter.
What to look for
Chelsea
Kahani brings contemporary Indian cooking to a discreet Chelsea dining room near Sloane Square. The presentation is polished, but the food remains grounded in Indian spicing, tandoor cooking and richly flavoured sauces.
What to look for
London guide
North London is especially strong on neighbourhood restaurants with loyal followings, with everything from a vegetarian institution to one of the capital's most distinctive Indian gastropubs.
East Finchley
Shahi Pakwaan ranges confidently across India, with tandoor cooking, biryanis and curries drawing on regions from Rajasthan and Kashmir to Kerala. It is the sort of broad menu that rewards a table willing to order across it.
What to look for
Archway
The Great Indian has turned a residential Archway pub into a genuinely convincing Indian gastropub. The format feels relaxed and familiar, while the kitchen gives the food enough ambition to make this more than a pub that happens to serve curry.
What to look for
Muswell Hill
Taste of Nawab has been part of Muswell Hill since 1996, building the kind of neighbourhood reputation that only comes with consistency. The cooking is rooted in classic Indian restaurant traditions, served with the warmth of a long-established local favourite.
What to look for
Stroud Green
Jai Krishna has been serving vegetarian Indian food in Stroud Green since 1982. Dosa, chaat, thalis and comforting curries give the menu real range, while the restaurant retains the easy-going character of a place that has grown with its neighbourhood.
What to look for
London guide
North East London has a broad and varied Indian dining scene, from established neighbourhood curry houses to modern restaurants and fully plant-based cooking. The strongest places here have distinct identities rather than simply repeating the familiar curry-house formula.
Chingford Mount
Mumbai Maska brings a broad Indian menu to Chingford Mount with a particular nod to Mumbai. Tandoor cooking, curries and biryanis sit alongside more street-food-led flavours, giving the restaurant plenty of scope without losing its identity.
What to look for
Woodford
Jaipur of Chigwell is a polished neighbourhood curry house with the sort of deep menu regulars can work through for years. Traditional curries, tandoor dishes and biryanis are joined by house specials that keep the choice broader than the familiar standards alone.
What to look for
Highams Park
No. 1 The Avenue gives Highams Park a smart contemporary Indian restaurant and bar without abandoning traditional curry-house favourites. The setting feels made for an evening out, while the menu remains accessible enough for a relaxed neighbourhood dinner.
What to look for
Walthamstow
Shri Lakshmi is a fully plant-based Indian restaurant on Hoe Street, with vegetarian and vegan cooking treated as the main event rather than a side menu. Indian snacks, street-food favourites and curries make it one of the area's most distinctive options.
What to look for
London guide
East London is vast, stretching from Brick Lane and Aldgate through Docklands to East Ham. Regional South Indian cooking is particularly strong here, alongside some of the capital's best-known curry-house territory.
Docklands
Grand Cholan takes inspiration from the food culture of the Chola dynasty and puts South Indian and Tamil cooking at the centre of the menu. Dosa, idli, kothu and regional curries make the Docklands restaurant especially rewarding for diners who want to look beyond standard curry-house territory.
What to look for
East Ham
Choonda is a Kerala specialist with a menu that leans into the state's coastal cooking, rice dishes and spice-heavy regional preparations. It is direct, distinctive food with a much clearer sense of place than a generic all-India menu.
What to look for
Brick Lane
City Spice is firmly part of Brick Lane's curry-house story, but its menu also carries a clear Bengali influence and a willingness to move beyond the usual greatest hits. It is a lively expression of the British Indian restaurant tradition in the street most associated with it.
What to look for
Aldgate
Rasoi Ghar on Leman Street combines familiar curry-house foundations with a broader contemporary menu of tandoor cooking, seafood, biryanis and more inventive main courses. There is enough range here to suit both traditionalists and diners looking for something less expected.
What to look for
London guide
South East London may be the strongest part of this guide for long-established independents. It also has real breadth, from refined North Indian cooking to Nepalese heritage and one of London's oldest surviving tandoori restaurants.
Forest Hill
Babur has been part of Forest Hill since 1985 and remains one of South London's most accomplished Indian restaurants. Its menus move confidently across regional Indian cooking, with tasting menus and a serious drinks programme giving the experience more depth than the average neighbourhood curry house.
What to look for
Blackheath
PANAS brings Indian and Nepalese cooking together in Blackheath, with Himalayan flavours and family recipes given a polished dining-room setting. The menu has a strong sense of heritage without feeling fixed in the past.
What to look for
Elephant Park
Kachori focuses on refined North Indian cooking, particularly flavours associated with Rajasthan, Punjab and Delhi. Chef Brinder Narula's fine-dining background shows in the detail, but the food remains recognisably hearty and rooted in regional tradition.
What to look for
Bermondsey
Tower Tandoori has been serving Bermondsey since 1978 and still cooks with a traditional charcoal-fired tandoor. The menu draws on Anglo-Indian classics and regional influences, while the restaurant's long family history gives it a place in London's curry-house story that few can match.
What to look for
Bexleyheath
The Jasmine takes a more individual route, combining traditional Indian flavours with an Indo-fusion approach and cooking dishes to order. It is a small restaurant with a strong personality, rather than another interchangeable curry-house menu.
What to look for
London guide
Across Croydon, Vauxhall and Tooting, South London delivers some of the broadest cooking in the guide, including South Indian and Sri Lankan food, Bombay street food and Lahore-influenced Pakistani dishes.
Croydon
Honeymoon specialises in South Indian and Sri Lankan cooking, giving its Croydon menu a distinctly southern character. Regional curries and spice-led dishes sit alongside familiar favourites, making it particularly good for a table that wants to explore rather than order the same old thing.
What to look for
Vauxhall
Mumbai Delight combines a full Indian restaurant menu with a clear Bombay street-food streak. The South Lambeth Road restaurant is equally comfortable with a curry dinner or a table of snacks and smaller plates, with strong vegetarian and vegan coverage too.
What to look for
Tooting
Royal Mahal draws heavily on the food of Lahore while spanning Pakistani and Indian cooking more broadly. Street-food snacks, grills and rich curries suit its lively, family-focused Tooting setting, where the restaurant has grown into a local institution of its own.
What to look for
Croydon
Tindli is the work of Chef Karnavar, whose career has taken him through major hotels and high-end kitchens in India, Dubai and London. His Croydon restaurant draws on family memories and regional Indian cooking, presented with a more contemporary chef-led touch.
What to look for
London guide
South West London rewards diners who look beyond the centre. Kingston, Teddington, North Cheam and Twickenham each bring something different, from regional specials and rare ingredients to cricket-themed modern Indian dining.
Kingston
Roz Ana has been serving Kingston Hill since 2008 with a menu that moves through the regions of India rather than flattening them into a single style. Regular regional specials keep the cooking interesting and give repeat visits a reason beyond familiar favourites.
What to look for
Teddington
Roots in Teddington combines traditional and evolving Indian cooking with a strong interest in seasonal produce and lesser-seen regional ingredients. Chef-owner Mayur Nagarale's approach makes the menu feel exploratory without losing the comfort of a neighbourhood restaurant.
What to look for
North Cheam
The Cricket Lounge builds its identity around two passions: Indian food and cricket. Head chef Asrar's pan-Indian menu brings together regional flavours, seafood and contemporary presentation in a dining room that wears its sporting theme with genuine enthusiasm.
What to look for
Twickenham
Shiuli is an independent Twickenham restaurant with a lighter, contemporary approach to Indian cooking. Alongside the main menu, its chef's tasting menus give the kitchen room to explore ingredients, seasons and the character of the local area in more detail.
What to look for
London guide
West London combines some of the capital's deepest South Asian food culture with restaurants that take Indian cooking in very different directions, from Delhi street-food inspiration to modern regional fine dining and Notting Hill nostalgia.
Ruislip
Delhi Ka Tadka brings the energy of Delhi's food culture to Ruislip, balancing street-food inspiration with tandoor cooking and a broad curry menu. It is colourful, confident and built around bold, familiar flavours rather than unnecessary complication.
What to look for
Hammersmith
Indian Zing has long been one of Hammersmith's most serious Indian restaurants. Its cooking takes a modern regional approach, using classical Indian ideas as the starting point for a more refined dining experience close to Ravenscourt Park.
What to look for
Hammersmith
Potli takes its cues from the markets and regional food traditions of India, giving its King Street menu a livelier, more informal character than conventional fine dining. It is particularly good at making a wide-ranging menu still feel coherent and personal.
What to look for
South Kensington
Pravaas is built around chef patron Shilpa Dandekar's idea of a culinary journey through India. The South Kensington dining room is polished, while the cooking uses regional inspiration as the basis for a contemporary fine-dining style.
What to look for
Notting Hill
Empire Empire mixes comforting Indian food with the atmosphere of a nostalgic Notting Hill listening room. Punjabi-rooted curries, kebabs and biryanis sit alongside jukeboxes, murals and a soundtrack that makes the restaurant feel unlike almost anywhere else on this list.
What to look for
London guide
North West London closes the guide with a particularly strong run of distinctive restaurants, from modern Indian sharing plates to Gujarati vegetarian food and one of Kilburn's best South Indian kitchens.
Hatch End
Social Dhaba takes the warmth and hearty food associated with India's roadside dhabas and gives it a bright, contemporary Hatch End setting. Small plates, chaat, tandoor cooking and robust curries make it equally suited to sharing or settling in for a full meal.
What to look for
Hampstead
Bonoo has built its identity around Indian tapas, using smaller sharing plates to move between street food, tandoor cooking and regional curries in a single meal. It is a more sociable, mix-and-match way to eat Indian food than the usual starter-and-main format.
What to look for
Kenton
Utsav draws from coastal kitchens, tandoor traditions and the street-food cultures of cities such as Mumbai and Delhi. The result is a broad but purposeful menu in a polished Kenton dining room, with enough ambition to make it feel like more than a local all-rounder.
What to look for
Wembley
Vrindavan Vatika is a pure-vegetarian restaurant on Ealing Road with unusual breadth. Gujarati thalis sit alongside South Indian dishes, North Indian cooking, chaat and Indo-Chinese food, making it an excellent window into the variety of India's vegetarian traditions.
What to look for
Kilburn
Anjanaas puts South Indian cooking, and Kerala in particular, at the centre of its Kilburn menu. Dosa, seafood, curries and Kerala breads give the restaurant a clear regional identity and make it one of the most distinctive Indian options in this part of London.
What to look for
Award-winning restaurants
Alongside the Curry House Guide selection, London restaurants continue to receive recognition from established international and national restaurant guides and awards.
2026 · Michelin Guide
Mayfair · London
Gymkhana holds Two Michelin Stars in the 2026 Guide, making it one of London's most highly recognised Indian restaurants.
2026 · Michelin Guide / National Restaurant Awards
Mayfair · London
Ambassadors Clubhouse gained its first Michelin Star in 2026 and also placed at number 94 in the National Restaurant Awards' UK Top 100.
2026 · National Restaurant Awards
Mayfair · London
BiBi placed at number 27 in the National Restaurant Awards' UK Top 100 and received the Estrella Damm Sustainability Award for 2026.
2026 · Michelin Guide
Regent Street · London
Veeraswamy holds One Michelin Star and celebrates its 100th year in 2026. Michelin describes the Regent Street institution as London's oldest Indian restaurant.
2026 · Michelin Guide
Marylebone · London
Trishna holds One Michelin Star. Michelin particularly highlights dishes inspired by India's coastal cooking alongside the restaurant's seasonal menus.
2026 · Michelin Guide
Westminster · London
Quilon holds One Michelin Star, with the Guide highlighting Head Chef Sriram Aylur's cooking from southwest India and the Malabar Coast.
Across the capital
One of the pleasures of eating Indian food in London is how little it conforms to a single style. Tamil and Kerala specialists sit alongside Gujarati vegetarian kitchens, Pakistani and Indian cooking shaped by Lahore, Nepalese influences, Brick Lane curry-house history and modern regional restaurants with their own point of view.
That variety matters. A brilliant neighbourhood curry house can belong here just as much as a polished destination restaurant, provided the food, public reputation and overall identity make a convincing case.
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.