Bombay Palace

Indian
Marble Arch

One of London's most well-established Indian restaurants, Bombay Palace, has been delighting customers with authentic Indian dishes for over thirty years. This summer, the entire restaurant has been renovated to bring the decor completely up to date and make sure the environs match the quality of the food.

This is no neighbourhood balti house. This is Indian fine dining suitable for business dinners or for impressing family and friends for special occasions, with sister restaurants all over the world (New York to Kuala Lumpur). The new dining room looks modern and fresh, with crisply laundered tablecloths that wouldn't be out of place at the most upmarket of hotels.

In our opinion, Indian is a cuisine that is made for sharing. At Bombay Palace, there are so many different types of curries and tandooris, that the best way to enjoy them is to order many different dishes between a group and taste them all. The flavours of most Indian dishes are completely complementary, and the different dishes combine together to make something even greater than the sum of their parts.

Our meal kicked off with four starters to share; huge chunks of chicken tikka, small round kebabs of minted lamb with lentils, and a vegetarian option of lentils, beansprouts and coriander fried into crisp golf-ball sized parcels. The highlight was a dish of (slightly) spicy jumbo prawns, and when we say jumbo, we mean JUMBO. If we didn't know any better, we could have mistaken them for lobsters.

The main courses couldn't come soon enough. We sampled three meat dishes and three side dishes, plus rice and some particularly bread, giving us plenty of variety. We certainly weren't leaving here hungry. The kingfish Goan curry was a new to us; a white flaky fish that absorbs the flavour of the medium-spicy sauce. The chicken tikka makhni was beautifully marinated chicken in a tomato curry sauce and the lamb cutlets were tender with a smoky barbecued flavour and bigger than expected. The three side dishes included shredded crispy okra, spinach paneer and lentil dal with cumin and garlic.

In addition to the food, the service at Bombay Palace great, with friendly staff who are attentive and always happy to explain the dishes. It was a real pleasure to dine here, we can't wait to come back soon and try everything else that the Bombay Palace has to offer.

50 Connaught Street, W2 2AA

Average price for main course: £15
Average price for glass of wine: £6 
Food/Drink: 5/5
Service: 5/5
Value: 4/5

WEBSITE / MAP / MENU