You’d be hard pressed to find a city in Europe that boasts a wider range of superlative Indian restaurants than London, or a city anywhere outside south Asia with as many connoisseurs of Indian cuisine. Here are five excellent options for sampling the cuisine of the subcontinent London-style.

Amaya Bar & Grill offers diners the widest variety of Indian grills in one restaurant and a most inviting ambiance, with Agra stone walls, contemporary Indian paintings, and rosewood furniture. An open kitchen enables guests to watch the chefs create dishes with sophisticated spices and intricate marinades. Amaya dishes include a wide range of poultry, meat and seafood, as well as 12 vegetarian entrees. The food is prepared with three cooking methods: Tandoor, in a clay oven; Sigri, over a coal flame; and Tawa, griddled on a thick iron plate.

Dramatically lit with 100 candelabras, Chutney Mary is renowned not only for its food, but for a setting romantic enough to have given the restaurant a reputation as an ideal site for a wedding proposal. The food at Chutney Mary features traditional recipes that incorporate the latest trends in contemporary Indian cuisine, with delicacies including duck galouti (succulent duck kabobs), mala lamb shank shakuti (a Goa-style dish created with 21 spices), and chandini tikkas, prepared with only white spices.

The Cinnamon Club, which places its culinary emphasis on modern, haute cuisine, focuses on Indian cooking techniques with clear European influences. Innovative entrees, to name just two, include wild African prawns baked with kasundi mustard and breast of French black chicken with pomegranate. The restaurant also reflects a European influence in its impressive wine list and the careful attention it pays to pairings of menu items and selections from the cellar. The Cinnamon Club is situated in the former Westminster Library, which was converted to house the restaurant in 2001.

Tamarind, an elegant basement restaurant bedecked with gold pillars, is the first Indian restaurant in London to earn a Michelin star. The chef regularly revises the menu, adding new entrees and seasonal menus to keep the cuisine perpetually fresh, but recent dishes representative of what you might expect on your visit include jhinga ajwaini (tiger prawns marinated with ginger, yoghurt, paprika and aijwain), adraki dhampen (lamb cutlets marinated with raw paw-paw, ginger, paprika and crushed peppercorns), and lasooni murgh (grilled corn-fed chicken breast with garlic, crushed peppercorns and curry leaves, served on salad with red pepper chutney). Tamarind features a tandoor window, which allows guests to watch the chefs work their magic.

And for seekers of traditional Indian cuisine in a more casual setting, The Standard is a favourite among locals in Bayswater, a neighbourhood that is home to a large number of ethnic restaurants. The Standard, which has been in business since the 1960s and seats 80 diners, specialises in Indian cuisine from the Punjab region of Northern India and Eastern Pakistan. Although the restaurant’s focus is most certainly not on décor, the authentic food at reasonable prices will probably keep you from noticing. Butter chicken is a popular signature dish, as are the mixed grill and creamy chicken tikka masala.

Contact Centurion Concierge for reservation inquiries.