The Tamil Prince — Restaurant in London

As a person with South Indian roots who lives in North London, the excitement levels were high for this visit...and The Prince certainly didn't disappoint! In short, the Tamil Prince served up refreshingly authentic flavours, seeks to redefine Indian cuisine in London and does so in the cosy setting of your neighborhood pub, with warm, amiable service. My wish for them is to unapologetically lean in further into their culinary identity. Be yourself, Tamil Prince, for Everyone else is taken!

We started off with a vegetarian uttappam-a south Indian classic and a wise choice for any restaurant if considering the economics and efficiency of these over dosas! Why aren't uttappams more popular?!! It was delicious, spongey in texture yet with an oh-so-right crispy base. The stand out however, was the accompanying chutney- a bold,fiery chili and coconut blend that was straight out of a South Indian grandma's kitchen.

We moved on to a well executed and impressive on the eyes chhole bhatura. The chhole was well spiced and had a home made taste unlike many restaurants where its drowning in oil, a radioactive shade of orange and impatiently spiced.

The salad was a nice twist on a kachumber salad with sweet cherry tomatoes and a mild yet zingy dressing and crunch of nigella seeds.

The prawns were huge and juicy but for me, the garam masala used was on the salty side and the prawns a tad too well done. The roti was texturally spot on. The daal makhani delicious and moreish with a generous dollop of ghee added for good measure (as it should be!).

For "dessert" we enjoyed the mango lassi and the badam kheer/payasam as it's known in South India was absolutely delicious... Thicker than your standard payasam with a generous nut blend (??) substituting rice or vermicelli. Only feedback here is that the quantity was excessive and would have been better served in a cup rather than the huge glass - a poor design choice that interfered in the enjoyment of the dish.

This visit was booze free for us but we saw some good looking cocktails leaving the bar, and a decent wine list for a pub.

The interiors and decor are a firm nod to the location and the homes of their upper middle class neighbours complete with Farrow and Ball paint (Railings, if I had to guess!), and Aesop toiletries.

Overall, I felt that there is further room to push boundaries through introducing more Tamil/south Indian dishes on to the menu. I appreciate that they are balancing the familiar Indian(paneer butter masala, bhajis etc), with introducing guests to foreign with Indian food - but I would encourage them to lean into a richer regional menu and create a niche for themselves. Be yourself, The Tamil Prince! Everyone else is taken.

Service was excellent with amiable staff that were cheery while balancing a very busy evening service....

I was really looking forward to eating at TP. Great location and nice enough pub-type restaurant/ambience.

Limited menu, but I don't mind that, if the food is decent.

The starters were very tasty. I particularly liked the onion bhaji and we reordered some of those dishes a bit later.

When doing so, I asked for a dhal Makhni among other dishes, but then changed my mind less than two mins later, and politely asked if at all possible to switch that with the king prawn dish (which is more expensive!). The answer was no. Surprising, since they are very unlikely to be making a single portion of dhal from scratch, or if so, unlikely for it to go to waste. I thought it wasn't great customer service, but fine.

The food was very quick to be delivered to the table, which was great, but again most likely because they're mostly prepped and ready to be finished on the stove and served.

We had a number of "large plate" mains, which were about the same size as a small saucer you get with a tea cup.

The portion of chicken curry was so small, the three minuscule pieces looked like they all came from one half of a chicken breast!

The paneer was cut into such tiny pieces and so few in number that you had to go looking for it.

And most disapointingly, the curries all tasted quite samey and lacked flavour that it made me think of those bland old Indian curry houses you find in remote parts of England back in my parents' time.

It was a tale of two halves. Great starters and some of the worst mains I've had in memory.

To top it, we finished our meal fairly quickly and asked for the bill (so not hanging around for hours). It was raining outside and our Uber was a bit slow. The waitress came over at this point and told us (not asked, but told) that they need the table.

There were about two other couples eating but the restaurant was otherwise empty and ready for the second round of covers. This was around 6.30pm. There was no one else there waiting for a table. Cleaning and laying the table would have taken a minute.

As we stood by the door (raining outside) waiting for our taxi, a gentleman walked in and asked if he could get a table (for him and his daughter). The person at the door tells him "maybe, but I need you gone in an hour". Those exact words.

I used to work in the restaurant business and have a lot of time for service staff. I'm also not looking for a pretentious haute-cuisine experience and more than comfortable in a relaxed setting.

I rarely write a review (and almost never one this long!). Usually only if very good or really poor. This sadly falls into the latter. Overpriced and underwhelming (both...

I have just found the best Indian restaurant in London that I’ve tried so far. That is high praise coming from me!

My friends and I didn’t expect the level of authenticity from the food. Oh my god, what a treat. As an Indian, who goes back often, I can say that it felt like for £50 I got on a flight there and had some of my favourites.

Everything on the menu is amazing, and the fact that it’s a smaller menu makes it that much better. You know they’re putting their time and effort into creating the best dishes, not just trying to cook anything and everything.

We went a party of 3, and tried the onion bhaji, the dosa, the chicken lollipop for starters. When I tell you each dish had us craving more, the sauces were paired famously - so much so that we were fighting over it. Could not get enough!

The mains we tried: paneer butter masala, thanjavur chicken curry and the viral channa bhatura. We had the flaky rotis to accompany. When I tell you each curry had a beautiful thick texture and perfectly balanced flavour, I’m not even doing them justice. The roti was so buttery, so flaky - I was in heaven. They HIT every single time.

They were packed on a Wednesday evening!! We made the mistake of not making a reservation so please make sure you do beforehand- don’t assume that because you’re headed there on an off-peak day that they’ll be free. We waited around for a while and managed to get a table. The service was slow- understandably - but everyone we met was really friendly and accommodating.

As it was so busy and close to closing, we had to pick what we wanted beforehand so we didn’t get the dessert!! Definitely regretted that after.

I’m definitely going back and have been raving about the food for months to anyone who’ll listen. My suggestion for someone’s birthday meal was this place recently so looks like I’m headed back and this time I’m not going to hesitate- ORDERING EVERYTHING!!! Just take my money Tamil Prince- you really are regal in every aspect.

Beautiful location too, recommend sitting outside....