Tag Archives: Indian Food

Ten Best Places to Eat in Greater Kennington #3

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+ One Sunday Roast

The Coriander

For reasons purely relating to research we quality controlled Coriander at the end of February, 2024 and it still deserves the number three spot.

Greater Kenningtontonians are almost as opinionated about their curry as their Sunday roast, but we find that the best hands down to be The Coriander in Vauxhall. We are aware that such a bold assertion is controversial and might make you want to hurl tarka dahl our way but since you don’t actually know who we are that’s not likely to happen.

Coriander specialises in North Indian, Bengali and Nepalese cuisine. The garlic naan is just right – not too thick and herbs going through it. For side dishes, the  baingon motor (aubergine) is  a standout treat, and their other starters cover all the bases of North Indian food. For the mains, our favourites are the chicken tikka naga (above) with hints of cloves, cumin and loads of heat.  All the good curry house standards are also in evidence, and we particularly like the handi laze, which is spicy chicken with chillies and fragrant cardamon, giving some zing with added lemon. And as with most Indian places, there are a range of vegetarian options. There are also a huge range of rices, and we prefer the good old fashioned pilau.

Honourable mention in for Indian food goes to proper old school curry joint Gandhis in Kennington Cross which just missed our list. As you can see by the celebrity strewn pictures in the window, if it’s good enough for Richard and Judy, Neil and Christine Hamilton, and some lady who’s a dead ringer for Hyacinth Bucket then it has to be good enough for us mere mortals and may return to the list one day.

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Kennington Tandoori v. Ghandis?

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The lively debate throughout Runoff Towers is frequently ‘when in Kennington Cross is it Kennington Tandoori or Ghandi’s’? While we do enjoy the retro kitchness of Ghandis with window photos of celebrities from a different era (Richard! Judy!), we equally appreciate the low lights, dark wood and high server to diner ratio on offer at KT. But we’re here for the food, so purely for our Top Ten list © research purposes, we recently paid KT a long overdue visit. 

New recruit Gaz from the tech team chose the biryani for his mains and was pleased to see this arrive with an intact thin pastry top. Keen to impart knowledge in the real world, he noted that the pasty wasn’t really for eating (although can be) but instead for sealing the flavour during a gentle cooking process, giving it a super delicious taste. Gaz opted for the lamb version (chicken or vegetable also available). As his mouth was full of rice and Cobra beer, he proffered a thumbs up to the generous chunks of lamb in amongst the rice, vegetables and spices. When he was able to speak Gaz encouraged folks to add a serving of dahl for that rice-and-lentil magic. 

Your scribe opted for the Bombay parsi chicken dansak. It was a spicy and sweet balanced chicken, cooked very slowly and mixed with jaggery (Indian cane sugar), lentils, garlic, roasted cumin and sprinkled with kaffir lime leaves. A good degree of spice warmth came through as did the tang of yoghurt for a soft, fragrant dish. Overall very warming and pleasing for a rainy autumnal evening. And we started the affair with chicken stuffed momos. As they are from Nepal they have nothing to do with Indian but as what KT serves is north Indian food we thought ‘close enough’. And Gaz was in agreement as he was getting a free meal out of the equation. 

As frequent readers are aware we often complain about the (first world problem alert) extortionate price of wine in restaurants. At KT you can bring your own for a £10 corkage fee, which isn’t great but if you can stand a £6 bottle from Tesco you’ll find yourself quids in. As for the KT versus Ghandi’s debate, in order to ascertain our pick we’re afraid you’ll need to wait until our highly subjective yet totally scientific Top Ten list © is unveiled in February. 

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