Indian restaurants in London have had a very good reputation for years but this has not always been the case.
To understand this, you need to know that in India there is no ancient tradition of restaurants. Chefs worked (this is still the case in some families) not in restaurants but in homes or palaces, cooking for the families who employed them. It was not uncommon for a very wealthy family to employ several chefs, each specializing in their regional cuisine.
It is therefore at home that we eat best thanks to the chefs but also to the women who cook with talent thanks to the enormous family transmission. No one saw the point in going to a restaurant to eat something not as good as at home.
Besides that, street food is omnipresent in India, very complementary to what we prepare at home. The “carts” or mobile kitchens that can be found on every street corner are still run today by families who pass down their specialties from generation to generation. No chef training but a cuisine that spans generations with cutting-edge specialties. Some “carts” have been preparing the same recipe for hundreds of years.
When in London, Indian restaurants at one time served more Anglo-Indian cuisine. Camellia Panjabi participated with her sister Namita in revolutionizing this landscape in London in the early 1980s, as she had done in India with the restaurants of the luxury hotel chain Taj. Its secret: an enormous variety of regional dishes thanks to the presence of chefs from multiple regions and/or from multiple communities, enormous research work on regional recipes and the arrival of street food in restaurants.
Today, with her sister Namita and her brother-in-law Ranjit, she is at the head of several establishments in London. They make up the crème de la crème of London’s Indian restaurants . Two of their restaurants have a Michelin star.
We had the chance to discover 4 very different addresses. They all have in common a careful decor, gracefully combining elements found in India (like old doors or sublime lamps) and more contemporary things, perfect service and authentic cuisine.
What’s great is that with all of their menus, the panorama of Indian cuisines is within your reach . The plural is essential when we talk about Indian cuisines. You can well imagine that given the size of the country and the multitude of cultures, it is difficult to talk about a single Indian cuisine
Masala Zone: great value for money for a beautiful panorama of Indian cuisines
There are 7 Masala Zone brands in London, including one in the Selfridges department store. No excuses not to head there on your next trip to London. You feel like you’re in a cocoon with a warm decor mixing objects found in India and more contemporary touches.
At Masala Zone, we find the great classics of street food but also dishes that are cooked by chefs in families in India, like curry or rather curries because each region has its own ways of doing things.
Did you know that to ensure this regional diversity, at least 4 chefs work at Masala Zone, each coming from a different region?
Dai puri on the left and Bhel puri on the right
We really fell in love with dai puri (on the left in the photo), a sort of very thin shell made from chickpea flour stuffed with yogurt and drizzled with a tamarind sauce, an emblem of street food
Don’t miss another street food classic: gol guppa pops filled with tamarind water and puffed lentils. Not easy to eat but what a delight. We also loved the bhel puri (right in the photo), a kind of fresh, crisp salad with puffed rice, vegetables, herbs, crispy vermicelli and pomegranate seeds.
Thali / Curry and chapati (Indian flatbreads)
If you are in a hurry, the thalis, very representative of home cooking, are delicious and complete. Their compositions change with the seasons, or even days for the vegetarian version.
Think outside the box with okra served in a sauce to die for or with this chicken with the mysterious name “chicken 65” to be enjoyed with your fingertips.
Chicken 65 and deliciously fragrant and tangy “dry” curry
Indian cuisine is not limited to dishes with sauces, Masala Zone offers meats and fish grilled on plates or in a tandoor, a stone oven heated over a wood fire.
The Indian Restaurant Amaya, in the very chic Belgravia district, has just celebrated its 15th anniversary and has had a Michelin star for 14 years. Extravagant in the good sense of the word because Amaya does not leave you indifferent.
We liked the fusion food starters: seared scallops, slightly spicy herb sauce, large tandoori shrimp and grilled oysters with coconut and lemongrass sauce.
+ There are no comments
Add yours