Veeraswamy — Restaurant in London

My wife decided to book us in for an upmarket Indian meal here at Veeraswamy.

Now I am always sceptical about upmarket places, small portions, pretentious watered down dishes, expensive and fake smiling staff.

Well only one of the above fits the description of Veeraswamy... expensive, aside from that everything else is amazing.

As you can see the doorman was more than happy to pose for a pic, once inside the lady on reception was extremely pleasant and friendly making us feel welcomed and relaxed.

We were escorted to the table and looking around you could see that smart casual was fine but smart is the setting of the resturant so dressing up is not out of place.

Looking at the menu I realised yep it was expensive but the ingredients displayed for each dish made your mouth water, we opted to go for 3 courses from the menu which came to just under £200 including a drink each. The set menus start at £35 for 3 courses so you could easily get away with spending under £100 for two if you liked what you saw on there.

I asked how big the biryani was and when told it was enough for one my fear of expensive small dishes kicked in so i ordered roasted potatoes and Dal to accompany. To my suprise when it came the biryani was big enough to share between possibly three! The starters and main courses were absolutely out of this world, flavours, well cooked presentation just everything was exceptional about the dishes. I have never tasted Indian food like it! It's not like home cooked or a cosy family run resturant taste where its truly authentic, instead its fine dinning style with no spices or methods of traditional indian cooking spared.

Mango and strawberry mocktail was refreshing and fruity, the hibiscus champagne was delicately sweet and fruity too.

My only fault I could find was the dessert menu, I'm fussy when it comes to dessert so for me the choice didn't have anything I really wanted. However there's a lot to choose from so others may disagree and find the sorbet or traditional sweets to their liking.

The staff were attentive and genuinely connected enough with each person dining in the restaurant to ensure their needs were always met. It wasn't overbearing with someone standing over you at all times, but it was also not frustrating with you having to wave like a looney to get attention, it was tge perfect balance.

Overall, if you are going to treat yourself and fancy a glam but relaxed and belly pleasing time then definately make your way here.

Summary, an absolutely amazing place, with lovely staff and the some of the best food you will ever taste, book up and make sure you confirm your...

We went to veeraswamy yesterday, no doubt their food is really good, but the service was not satisfying at all, for this kind of service i would never pay what ive paid, the staff lacks professionalism/not trained properly. The server in our area was a bit clumsy, dropped a thing or two here and there, also the lady as a helper was clumsy as well as when it got busy you could see she was kind of finding it difficult. We gave her our dessert order, waited for about 30mins asked her how long it was for our desserts, and she said its just coming. Our tea was ordered with the desserts, and we got the tea straight away, also poured into our cups, so by the time our delayed desserts came, the tea was cold. Then our server came and said that there was an error in our system so your desserts will be another few mins. I have worked in the hospitality sector myself, and i definitely know when someone says “there was an error in our system” specially when someone has forgotten to put an order through. The manager as well as the server apologized themselves, even though we didnt say anything. I mean if you have a long delay in anything and specially when theres a server mistake like that, you do get a good/extra gesture from the restaurant-dessert being on the house, or something on the bill as complimentary, or any good gesture, specially when youre a michelin star, your customer interaction is a level above the rest. Also, we asked the lady to get our remainders packed for takeaway, she also made a confirmation by pointing out, which food should be packed, and i also pointed out to the lamb briyani, dilkush chicken, and the chicken makhani. We only got a bit of lamb briyani, a few spoons in a box (with out the lamb) no dilkush chicken at all. Come on guys isnt this a michelin star restaurant? I asked for the service charge to be removed, they have a policy of their 50% service charge being discretionary, and the sever came back and verbally told us, still after our desserts were delayed for so long. We didnt argue because of the delay we missed our train, didnt wanna miss the next train. Weve been to restaurants that arent michelin star but have a sublime customer service. We were really disappointed. Im gonna...

I first went to Veeraswamy in 1982 then again in 2005 and still remember it. Do when I read that they have 1 Michelin star, I had to go again. I reserved and went there with my brother. We ordered Raj Kachori and chicken Tikka for starters, then Roast Duck Vindaloo, Lamb Rogan Josh and dal with steamed rice and ended with cucumber Raita. OK, let me start, the Kachori was unreal, the mixture of flavors blended so well that it left my mouth screaming for more, the mixture of ingredients was so nicely balanced and flavorful that I had to meter myself not to finish my portion. The Tikka was also very tender and nicely spicy but not too much, however, it had something missing from it and not until I had the duck Vindaloo did I realize that the spice mixture was very very unique. The duck was another story. Vindaloo is my favorite Indian dish which I love the taste and the heat. The duck had some heat but had an amazingly correct Vindaloo flavor, this to me was delicious, the duck was cooked beautifully, soft and well rendered fat and just lovely but with the Vindaloo spices which made it a unique dish... Loved it. The lamb was also amazing and like the duck was spiced to perfection but in a different way than any other Indian restaurant while maintaining the identity of this Kashmiri dish. The dal was excellent and the rice and Raita sublime. The rice was the perfect vehicle to carry the Vindaloo and Rogan Josh flavors. We were full and could not order dessert unfortunately but what a feast of flavors. Now you have to understand that I love Indian food but always suffer the aftermath of sweating the spices. Veeraswamy is different, the food I had, had all the right flavors and spice but not of the aftermath, so I was delighted. What an amazing place, I remember it from 1982, 2005 and now since I visited London in 2022, it has grown and developed into an experience I will repeat anytime I come to London hopefully not to far distant as before. Go there and enjoy.. Well deserving it's...