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Best Asian Restaurants and Spice Routes in London

Best Asian and spice-led restaurants in London, from Indian and Sri Lankan rooms to Thai, Chinese, and Japanese destination counters.

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Best Asian Restaurants and Spice Routes in London

Guide: Spice Routes Across London

London's spice map is bigger than one cuisine, so this guide now makes that range explicit. Dishoom, Hoppers, and Gunpowder cover Indian, Sri Lankan, and modern South Asian routes, while Kiln, Smoking Goat, The Churchill Arms, Four Seasons Chinatown, and Maru pull in Thai, Chinese, and Japanese stops. It is a cross-city starting point for Asian food rather than a narrow Brick Lane shorthand.

  • Dishoom Covent GardenDishoom Covent Garden channels old Bombay cafe culture into an all-day London workhorse: bacon naan rolls at breakfast, black daal, grills, chaats, cocktails, and a room that handles groups better than most central tables.
  • Hoppers SohoHoppers Soho helped push Sri Lankan and South Indian cooking into central London's mainstream. Go for hoppers, dosas, kothu, sambols, kari, and arrack drinks in a room that feels like a real meal, not a novelty stop.
  • Gunpowder SpitalfieldsGunpowder Spitalfields brings modern Indian small plates into a compact East End room: go for Kashmiri lamb, mustard fish, chaat, spice, and a sharper alternative to a generic Brick Lane curry stop.
  • KilnKiln is a counter around live fire, claypots, seafood, and regional Thai cooking shaped by northern Thailand, Burma, and Yunnan. Go when Soho needs heat, smoke, and close-up kitchen theatre rather than a polite pre-theatre table.
  • Smoking Goat ShoreditchSmoking Goat is built around Thai drinking food, charcoal, heat, and Bangkok late-night canteen energy. Go for fish-sauce wings, smoky sharing plates, strong drinks, and a Shoreditch dinner that can roll into bars.
  • The Churchill ArmsThe Churchill Arms is the flower-covered Kensington pub that earns its fame with Thai food, Churchill memorabilia, cask ale, and instant recognizability. It works for both a pint and a spice-route detour.
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