The Empress

Since opening in 1993, The Empress has been admirably reaching its goal to provide the East End of London with stunning Indian cuisine. And this isn’t just rhetoric: this Whitechapel Indian restaurant is award-winning in terms of the prowess in the kitchen and the quality of the dishes it creates, the warm and attentive service, and the fact that the restaurant’s Leman Street premises are a great place to take the family for an evening out. Committed to a natural and healthy approach, The Empress stocks the best herbs and spices, uses low-cholesterol sunflower oil, refuses any artificial colours or flavours – and there’s a generous list of vegetarian options, too.

Guests dining at The Empress for the first time are advised to listen up while we run through some of the highlights of this award-winning East London Indian restaurant’s menu. The Empress’ mixed platter is a great place to start, loaded with nazakat, pieces of delicately spiced chicken skewered and grilled to tender perfection, pancake kebabs, and khadom phool (minced Iamb coated with spiced mashed potato and breadcrumbs then deep-fried). Seafood lovers should go for the Cox’s Bazar shamuk, steamed mussels in an exotic Bengali sauce. There’s great scope here at The Empress’ Leman Street premises for a real exploration of regional and unusual Indian dishes, but it’s the house specialties and chef’s selection that really shine, making this eatery a household name in Whitechapel.

We can’t help but tease you with the dish that heads up The Empress’s list of house specialties. It’s called the Longest Curry in the World, and all we can say is, please enquire within. Another dish taking its name from the Bangladeshi fishing port of Cox’s Bazar is this Whitechapel Indian restaurant’s salt crabs cooked with ginger, garlic, coconut and fresh herbs, finished off with a garnish of cucumber and lemon. Each of The Empress’ chefs have contributed a few recipes each from their hometowns in India and Bangladesh, and our pick here is the khala lamb bhuna, hailing from the northern Punjabi provinces, which slowly cooks cubes of New Zealand lamb with fenugreek, lentils, green peppers and tomatoes. It has a smoky aroma and flavour, and can be tailored spice-wise to your taste. There’s so much more on offer at The Empress, one of East London’s most cherished curry houses, that you’ll simply have to book a table try this special dining experience out for yourself.