Dalchini

"Dalchini, a pan-Indian word for ‘cinnamon’, literally means ‘Chinese bark’ and it’s likely this was the first purely Indo-Chinese restaurant in London. Originally set up in the early 2000s by Udit Sarkhel and his wife Veronica Sarkhel to reflect their love of Indo-Chinese food, the restaurant remains in verdant Wimbledon Park but is now under new ownership. Udit was one of London’s foremost experts on Bengali cuisine until his death in 2012, and Veronica is herself Hakka Chinese, so it’s not a surprise that the food is still excellent despite the pair’s departure. Manchurian chicken is a textbook example, balanced between its Indian and Chinese ingredient palettes and not overly sweet. Instead of getting the egg fried rice to soak things up, try the burnt ginger rice — aromatic with all the charred, sticky pieces normally eaten by lazy chefs straight from the pan." - Jonathan Nunn