I love curry – chiefly eating it but also talking about it, very occasionally writing about it, and sometimes cooking it. I’m lucky enough to live in the UK where we love our curry, but this is usually a type of cuisine known as BIR, or British Indian Restaurant food. It’s incredibly popular but I do enjoy hunting out the places that either do BIR exceptionally well, or eschew it and do something a little more desi – a Hindi word that can be roughly translated as “home style”.
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London
Lahore Kebab House
2-10 Umberston Street, London E1 1PY
At the mention of curry in east London, one’s mind is drawn inevitably to the restaurants of Brick Lane. I tend to eschew these establishments with their touts and their deals involving indecently expensive poppadoms as better food is easily found elsewhere, and none more easily than at Lahore Kebab House with its brightly lit frontage right on the Commercial Road a short walk away.
This is a distinctly unfussy establishment, with two large dining rooms and occasionally chaotic service catering to the whole spectrum of late evening diners. A view straight into the open kitchen greets the arriving curry-hound, who will be led to a bare table containing laminated menus. If you turn up with booze from the next-door off licence (for this is a BYO establishment) a bottle opener will usually be provided although you may have to go hunting for this. Large screen televisions relay desi tv and, more often than not, cricket.
The service is brisk and somewhat casual which is not inappropriate in the setting, and food ordered has a tendency to arrive with some haste.
LKH is rightly known for its dry lamb, which delivers a low-key yet intense spice blast with minimal masala, as befits the name. I have lost count of the number of times I have enjoyed this dish here.
I always suspect the tarka dhal served here needs more salt, but am reluctant to add any as I know it’s bad for me. The butter naan is always a delight and requires numerous serviettes (which you often have to ask for) to consume with any degree of decency.
This keema was served bone dry with little oil present and accompanied by a potato. This was an excellent keema, but I know other diners have not always been so lucky. Given the churn of this place I suspect experiences can vary, but it is a favourite and I shall never be put off from returning.
The karahi gosht delivers a spice blast, a little more moist than the dry lamb but with the same tender and well seasoned meat. To help with my five-a-day I have begun to enjoy the saag aloo a little more than the dhal, not least as it seems to be better seasoned.
Halal Restaurant
2 St Mark Street, London E1 8DJ
This Aldgate stalwart has been around for a long time. Not quite as old as Britain’s oldest Indian restaurant Veeraswamy, it celebrated its eightieth birthday in 2019 making it surely the oldest curry house in the east end.
Largely dependent on city trade, the reopening after the first covid lockdown was not kind to them with city folk staying away from their offices. A tweet from the proprietor’s daughter went viral:
…and was followed by a review in the Times by Marina O’Loughlin and a host of other various attentions that happily carried the venerable Halal through the worst of the dreadful covid period.
Chillies Tandoori
7B-7C St George’s Circus, London SE1 6HS
Words here
Gopal’s of Soho
12 Bateman Street, London W1D 4AH
Gopal’s tacks slightly more towards the mainstream than the other establishments featured on this page, but that’s no bad thing and it keeps agreeable hours for those fans of later dining.
Watan, Tooting
180 Upper Tooting Road, London SW17 7EW [website]
Tooting is a happy hunting ground for the curry enthusiast and Watan sits at its heart, a veritable cathedral of curry in both size and reputation.
On my two visits there I’ve ordered the same thing – karahi gosht, tarka dhal and rice, with a butter naan and a chapli kebab on the side. Did I over order? Definitely. Could I remember the taste of the karahi weeks later? I could. If you desire authentic curry, you should go here.
Watan also offer a charsi lamb karahi, by the kilo or half kilo. This is perhaps too much for a solo diner, so my goal must be to assemble a party to do the kilo. It will be a worthwhile endeavour.
Lisbon
Radhuni
Rua do Benformoso 155 A B, 1100-084 Lisboa
If you find yourself at a loose end in Lisbon’s Praça Martim Moniz, ignore the temptations of the lengthy queue for the 28E tram or the open air escalators that promise higher ground, and take a wander up Rua do Benformoso.
Tall buildings crowd the narrow street, and people move with purpose between the shops, restaurants and other businesses as the road plots its slightly scruffy course between the multi-ethnic communities of Martim Moniz and Intendente. It is a chaotic mile of ethnic shops, barber shops and curry cafés. And within the chaos, you shall find Radhuni.
The lamb karahi contains large pieces of meat, some on the bone, within a thick masala sauce. The spice level, and the seasoning are spot on. I enjoyed Radhuni so much I returned for a second visit the day after, to the exclusion of the many other tempting establishments nearby. I must remedy this on future visits to Lisbon.
