Cafe Nawaz — Restaurant in London

The highlight of our stay in London was finding this restaurant which was at a walkable distance from our hotel. We ended up having dinner every single day once we discovered this restaurant. We are vegetarians and enjoyed the Vegetarian Biriyani. It was hot, tasty, full of spices and vegetables - not the watered down version you find in places outside India. Authentic and yumm. This was a staple though we did try other options. For starters, I would recommend the Onion Bhajji. With the 4 pieces served, it is a value for money starter - crispy yet tender. Other notable mentions - Coriander rice, the chappatis, the baigan bharta and the sweet lassi. It would be amiss of me if I dont mention the service at this place. Once the order is placed, the food arrives at your table in no time, piping hot. The owner of the place, Mr Mohammad is always on hand engaging the customers and making everyone comfortable. Hats off to Mr Muhammad and his loyal crew of Abdullah and the chef for making us feel at home in London. I am back in India and am not sure if i will ever find such tasty veg biriyani...

Impossible to give a positive review, as they were not open at 12.30pm, despite advertising that they open at noon. No sign of life inside the restaurant, and no notice on the door to explain/apologise for not opening. This is no way to run a business. I won't be giving them a second chance, having wasted my time today. UPDATE On finding them open a week later, I decided that I WOULD give them a second chance. I ordered the takeaway lunch box priced at £6. It was far and away the worst Indian food I have ever tasted. Everything seemed to have been cooked several days previously and reheated. Onion bhaji was the texture of a golf ball, chicken curry had no finesse in the spicing, pilau rice was bone dry, and saag aloo was completely devoid of any flavour and had an unpleasant slimy texture. I managed to eat less than half of the meal...

The people at this place are lovely. I have been a couple of times with work. That is sadly where the positives end, which I am sorry to say given how friendly and attentive the staff were. I am honestly shocked by all the good reviews- I have never had such bland and poorly cooked Indian/ south asian food. I think maybe they cater to a European pallet (hence the good reviews??) , but the food was so devoid of any flavour even salt would have improved it. I genuinely don’t think a single seasoning was included in the cooking process. This is as far from authentic as it gets. I had really hoped the first visit was just a one off, but the second was potentially even worse. Nothing is fresh, everything is precooked/ ordered in. There are plenty of alternative good value Indian restaurants in London,...