Indian

Woodlands is a southern Indian vegetarian restaurant with 3 branches across London, in Marylebone, Piccadilly and Hampstead. Mr Ranjit Sood opened the restaurant in 1981 and since opening besides serving southern Indian food, they have also introduced a few dishes from the Northern Indian cuisine and Tandoori dishes. Besides serving vegetarian dishes, the dishes they actually cook are also healthier than what other restaurants serve, as 98% of their dishes do not contain any butter or cream and they make them tasty due to their unique recipes and methods of slow cooking, which makes the meal much lighter than in other Indian restaurants. I do have to say that after my meal at Woodlands I did feel full but my stomach did not feel heavy, despite the fact that I had very flavoursome food. Their wine list also contains organic, vegan and vegetarian wines. 

Roti Chai is an Indian restaurant just north of Selfridges. The restaurant is split into two parts, the upstairs bit (which I have already reviewed, MMM) which serves casual Indian street food and a downstairs restaurant, which I now visited. The downstairs restaurant can best be described as a cheaper Amaya. Amaya is one of my favourite Indian restaurants in London and as opposed to focusing on cheap and cheerful oily curries it uses spices to infuse food without the oil and does considerably less curries. Roti Chai is very similar to this but cheaper and the food is very tasty, infused with a lot of spices and not oily.

The dining room, as opposes to the casual street food bit, is darker and more romantic and a lot of fun. I came here on a Friday evening and there were so many birthday parties going on and in general everyone was having a great time.

Roti Chai is an Indian restaurant just north of Oxford Street in Marylebone. The restaurant has two floors, on the ground floor they serve Indian street food and downstairs is a more formal Indian restaurant. The décor and the atmosphere are very different in both of these areas and downstairs feels like a very luxurious Indian restaurant, it is dark but as it is also full of people it also feels casual and trendy.
 

I had a really good meal at Dishoom and this is now one of my favourite casual eating restaurants in London. Dishoom is a Bombay Café, which I did not know what it was and had to google. Bombay Cafes (alternatively called Irani Cafes) were opened in the late 19^th and early 20^th century by Persian immigrants (who had been coming to India for over a thousand years) and at the peak at 1960 there were almost 400 cafes, but now there are less than 30, and these cafes were part of the urban Bombay life functioning as an eating, meeting and drinking places for people of all communities, rich and poor, and they had a look of faded elegance and they offered breakfast, lunch and dinner. Dishoom tries to be like one of these cafes with an all day menu full of Bombay dishes.

Trishna is located in Marylebone, and I have walked past this place quite a few times as I live quite close, and I had always wanted to go to Trishna, and after I found out it was awarded its first Michelin star in September I was even more keen, and when my friend Steven suggested he wants to go for dinner and have some Indian food, I was quick to suggest Trishna. I have read a lot about Trishna when they won their Michelin star and also because they apparently have a great sommelier there, a wonderful lady, and she was there when I went for dinner on a Tuesday and I did compliment her and tell her I had read about how amazing she was at combining wine with Indian food, as it is not the most straightforward thing and has not been the most typical thing historically.