Roti Chai, Indian Restaurant, Marylebone

Roti Chai (literally ‘bread and tea’) is a cool new Indian snacking eatery conveniently located on the outskirts of Marylebone between Bond Street and Marble Arch, an area that has recently seen the arrival of a few new hip restaurants. Inside it is a simple layout, a kind of minimalist canteen, downstairs a dining room, and upstairs (where we ate) a relaxed ‘street kitchen’ designed for quick easy eating.

My expert eater, chef friend chose our meal, an assortment of exciting sounding dishes from the eclectic menu. The Bhel Puri arrived first, a Bombay speciality of puffed rice mix with tangy tamarind sauce… to me it tasted like a sort of exotic mix of rice crispies and chutney… a slightly odd combination but nonetheless quite fun to crackle in your mouth! Our waitress advised us to try the Chicken lollipops, which have apparently become a firm favourite with regular customers. These were yummy, very moreish spiced chicken wings, cooked to perfection with a crispy batter, successfully managing to avoid being too greasy.

The Hakka Chilli Paneer was a highlight for me, a fiery Indo-Chinese speciality from Kolkata that arrived warm and delicious, a mix of paneer cheese and vegetables, the only issue was its spiciness, and I found I really needed the cooling side portion of minty yoghurt. A generous basket of roti bread was fresh and warm, a much nicer accompaniment than rice.

If you are not opting for cocktails or Indian beer, it is worth having the masala chai to drink, the restaurant’s authentic take on the sweet Indian tea spiced with cinnamon, cardamom and cloves. A warm, sugary and comforting drink that smells and tastes like Christmas.

The desserts all sounded a little esoteric, I made an executive decision for us to try the Kulfi Indian ice-cream lollipops, mango for my friend, pistachio for me. These grown-up mini milks were surprisingly nice, a sweet icy conclusion to the hot and spicy meal.

Unfortunately the staff were a tad clueless on our visit, obtaining a glass of tap water was rather too difficult. More importantly though the food at Roti Chai is fresh and vibrant, a tasty and inexpensive choice for busy diners.

To really impress, I feel they could perhaps be a little more innovative with the menu… it felt a little too similar to restaurants like Dishoom and Delhi Grill. In London’s restaurant scene you need to be daring and adventurous to stand out from the crowd.

Visit the website here.

Anokha, Indian Restaurant, Acton

To find a decent restaurant in Acton is quite a revelation. As soon as Pizza Express hits the chavvy acton highstreet I'm sure things will start looking up... But currently we have very few places to experience fine dining. A rare occasion of my whole family being reunited called for a special celebration, which came in the form of a trip down the new local Indian restaurant, Anokha.

Anokha strives to offer guests authentic Indian cuisine and it certainly seems to deliver as the place was completely full on this Friday night. As fireworks were blazing entertaining passers by outside we were having our own drama inside Anokha where the particularly excitable fire alarm was ringing loudly every few minutes in the kitchen, initial growing pains. In a small airtight restaurant I would usually find this kind of imperfection infuriating however the sweet natured waiters made the whole exxperience so lovely you couldn't help but smile and laugh at the noise!

After crisp poppadums our main courses arrived, not so promptly, but I guess we were a large table of six. The curries were delicious with soft and subtle flavours, exceptionally fresh ingredients, and impressive attention to detail. I ordered the particularly showy Chicken Shashlik Bhuna: diced marinated chicken cooked with herbs, tomatoes, onions and green peppers in a rich sauce and served on a sizzler! It was fragrant and filling and wonderfully unique served on the hot portable stove, quite a show piece. The rest of the table was filled with interesting selections from the menu, a creamy and sweet Chicken Korma, Tandoori Chicken, Tikka Biryani and an assortment of vegetable dishes. Miraculously we managed to clear the table. For six the meal cost £70, incredibly reasonable considering the quality and taste.

I give Acton a hard time but hopefully the arrival of Anokha marks the start of a revamp of Churchill road, a part of Acton that has a lot of potential.

Visit the Anokha website here.

Delhi Grill, Angel

Delhi Grill is an Indian Canteen style restaurant (known as a dhaba) spicing up the food scene in Islington. They offer grub outside on a tempting stall as part of the daily market, or indoors in the quirky eatery. It is a feast for the senses, on entering you are hit by an amazingly strong aroma of smoky incense, immediately transporting you far away from London. The restaurant has a relaxed atmosphere with the bright colours and newspaper collaged walls giving the place a very individual character.

I really appreciated the simplicity of the menu, Delhi Grill offer a small selection of slow-cooked, delicious dishes. The service was friendly but not overly intrusive – I can’t bear it when waiters ask if my food is okay more than once throughout the meal, at Delhi Grill we were left to enjoy and savour the food, which is exactly how it should be.

The menu offers recipes from the Tandoor and from the Pot, with the addition of a few daily specials. We chose the intriguing Mango Mojito to drink, a secret concoction that involved mango, mint, and a spirit of our choice, it was refreshing and a delicious alteration of the classic mojito cocktail.

The food was exceptionally fresh and fragrant, not too oily or salty as Indian food can often be. From the epic array of dishes we tried, a few things stood out as being special. Firstly the naan bread, which as an accompaniment to the main meal rarely seems important, Delhi Grill produced the most appetising, light, fresh crispy and yet soft bread, unlike anything I have ever tried before. The rice and condiments were also top notch.

From the specials board we tried the adventurous goat curry. I’ve tried goat before, but this was more meaty with a rich marinated flavour. We also loved the Chicken Makhani, a mild curry with butter chicken in a yoghurt based sauce, this was very creamy and particularly nice paired with the pilau rice. The lamb Rogan Gosht was less exciting, strong in flavour but not as dynamic and varied in taste as the other curries we tried. My favourite dish was the delhi grill, a sizzling stove arriving with an assortment of juicy grilled meats: chicken tikka, sheekh kebabs and lamb chops, and despite usually preferring chicken I was blown away by the tender lamb chop and the herby rich marinated flavour. Finally we tried Bhindi – okra stir fried with onion and plenty of spice, I was surprised to find I really liked this unusual vegetable, which looks a bit like a cross between an aubergine and a chilli.

Delhi Grill is a lovely, authentic feeling restaurant and I envy the Islington crowd who can pop in whenever, this Indian Canteen is a real asset to the area.

Dishoom Pop-Up Restaurant on Southbank

Rippling waves, golden sand, and delicious beach snacks... all found in London’s most exciting holiday destination... Embankment?!

Dishoom markets itself as London’s first and only Bombay cafe, selling authentic and traditional food of India’s famous city. This quirky restaurant set up a temporary pop-up on Embankment a few weeks ago providing hearty meals for hungry Southbank workers and visitors alike. The cafe is uniquely decorated with recycled newspapers, beautiful coloured bottles and amusing portraits. A bar lines one side and high stools the other, the atmosphere is friendly and relaxed.

Staff wander about welcoming you in, very eager to help, they wear hilarious neon t-shirts (that are also available to buy for £15) with bold slogans across their chest like “Bombay on Thames”. I am always on embankment, milling around before going to see a production at The National or The Old Vic and this pop-up perfectly suits my needs of needing a quick, filling, and interesting meal before a show. I went the other day before a play and tried the chicken curry and the popular Dishoom spicy lamb wrap. Both were delicious, much better than I expected. Rich and full of flavour the curry is thick and tangy, perfectly cooked chicken in a tomato based sauce that is packed full of spices, is comes with a separate portion of toasted naan. The wrap was a little too hot for me, but is a wonderful mix of crunchy vegetables and marinated meat.

To drink I tried a Chaijito made from chai infused Pampero run, fresh mint and lime. With no sugar (a crucial ingredient in a normal mojito) I found the cocktail a little too bitter, but it was an intriguing mix and certainly a refreshing accompaniment to go with the food.

Dishoom’s Chowpatty Beach will be adding spice to London’s Southbank until 4 October, so plenty of time to try out this bollywood Bombay bonanza for yourself.

Mint Leaf Lounge & Restaurant

Mint Leaf Restaurant and bar offers innovative Indian food and delicious cocktails. Situated conveniently in London’s West End, the restaurant space is expansive with smart wooden tables and stylish decor. I loved the trendy catwalk-like platform that runs through the restaurant.

The highlights of my trip to Mint Leaf were the delicious cocktails, some of the best I have tasted. I opted for the fresh fruit choices – Pineapple Martini and Peach Daiquiri. I was wisely advised, by my very own cocktail connoisseur, to have the daiquiri straight up rather than muddled (and messed up) with crushed ice, which is the less tasty American way.

The food was good but not worth the hefty prices (starters £8 ish, mains £16-20), with all the extra trimmings (rice, naan etc) extra on top. The menu is short, useful when you have difficulty making decisions. We chose mostly meat dishes to share – Lamb Bhuna, a tomato based curry, fragrant from the whole spices added, and Chicken Biryani, which I wasn’t as impressed with – it lacked flavour. We gave pudding a miss when we discovered the chocolate fudge tart was unavailable. Bad form Mint Leaf, bad form.

Final verdict: Ambience – nice, cocktails – great, food – okay.

See menu here.