Tamil Prince, London

I’ve been to The Tamil Prince a few times now, and it never misses. It was one of the first places we thought to take my partner’s family when they were visiting from China, which says a lot. It’s the kind of restaurant that feels special without being over the top, a gastropub with a really well put-together menu.

There are a few things I would always order. The okra fries are consistently excellent and properly crispy, which isn’t easy to achieve with okra. The chicken “lollipops” are also great, especially with the spiced chutney that comes with them.

The curries are the real highlight though. Portions aren’t huge, which works in your favour because you can order a few and share. The menu is quite tight, but everything on it feels considered. The lamb curry is my go-to with its rich, full flavour. The chicken curry is just as good and definitely worth ordering alongside it.

On another visit, we went with family and tried some of the larger grilled dishes. The lamb chops were perfectly charred, full of flavour, exactly what you want them to be. The seabream was just as good, cooked beautifully and packed with spice. My mother-in-law especially loved it.

It went down so well that we ended up eating South Indian food several more times during their visit, which feels like a good endorsement.

The team now has a couple of sister spots. The Tamil Crown, set in an old pub I used to live near, and Tamila, which I’m still trying to get to. There’s a reason they’re expanding - when the food is this consistently good, people keep coming back.