Restaurants

More at home in a Delhi backstreet than on the Strand, the India Club has notched up half a century of service. The location is unpromising: up two flights of dingy stairs. And though the restaurant's walls received a lick of lemon paint a few years back, its cracked red lino flooring, wobbly tables and mismatched seating look as if they haven't had a makeover for decades. Nevertheless, the Club exudes faded charm. Chefs, in contrast to their surroundings, wear gleaming white jackets and provide meals for a clientele of old India hands, office workers and the backpacker brigade. Our top marks went to fried minced lamb, cooked with heaps of ginger and garlic, and studded with garden peas. Less impressive was the tandoori chicken, which tasted like an Indian-inspired rendition of deep-fried battered chicken. Lamb pilao, although hardly authentic, made a tasty dish with its robust masala base of fried onions, ginger, garlic and chillies working well with tender meat morsels and fluffy rice grains. Portions aren't huge, but prices are rock bottom, and service is sweetness itself. Remember to buy beer from the first-floor bar on your way to the restaurant.

Time Out Eating & Drinking Guide 2007