The food you should NEVER order at an Indian restaurant: Top chef reveals the dishes to avoid – from onion bhajis to curries you can order with any choice of meat

Choosing something off the menu at an Indian restaurant can always be a challenge, with plenty of delicious-sounding options.

But the task may now be a little easier after a top chef revealed the dishes he believes you should avoid ordering – and it’s bad news for fans of biryanis, lamb and onion bhajis.

Chef Sanjay Gour, co-founder of KOKUM, which offers modern Indian cuisine in south London, told the Daily Mail how he is always ‘suspicious’ of eateries with ‘absolutely huge menus’.

‘No kitchen can specialise in absolutely everything,’ added the expert, who grew up in Mumbai before moving to the British capital, where he worked in Michelin-starred restaurants including Murano by Angela Hartnett.

He noted how the problem with offering a wide range of dishes is because each meal is unlikely to be made with the ‘same attention and freshness’.

From curries where every meat is an option to neon-red chicken tikka, these are the tasty-sounding dishes Sanjay believes could actually make you regret your menu choice and leave you dissatisfied.

1. I’d never order neon-red chicken tikka

‘If chicken tikka arrives looking almost fluorescent red, alarm bells start ringing for me,’ explained chef Sanjay. ‘Good tikka doesn’t need to rely on colour to make it look appealing. 

‘I’m looking for chicken that has been properly marinated, is tender inside and has those slightly blackened, smoky edges from the heat of the tandoor. 

‘The spices, chilli and marinade will naturally give it colour, but it shouldn’t look like somebody has attacked it with a pot of red food colouring. For me, flavour and char are far more important than how bright red it is.’

2. I’m suspicious of restaurants with huge menus

‘When I see pages and pages of dishes covering every possible curry, biryani, grill, seafood dish and regional speciality, I become wary,’ insisted the cooking expert. 

‘No kitchen can specialise in absolutely everything. The bigger the menu, the more prep has to be done and the harder it is to believe every single dish is being made with the same attention and freshness. 

‘I’d much rather go somewhere with a more considered menu and order the dishes the restaurant is genuinely known for.’

3. I’d never order a vindaloo advertised as the hottest curry

‘Vindaloo has somehow become shorthand for “make me the hottest curry you possibly can”, but that completely misses the point of the dish,’ claimed the chef. 

‘A good vindaloo should have acidity, garlic, spice and depth as well as heat. You should still be able to taste what you’re eating. 

‘So if a menu is boasting that its vindaloo is ridiculously hot or challenging you to finish it, I’d probably avoid it. Chilli should be part of the flavour, not a punishment.’

4. I wouldn’t order a biryani that looks like curry mixed into rice

Sanjay said: ‘You can normally tell quite quickly when a biryani hasn’t been treated like a proper biryani. It shouldn’t just be some rice, a spoonful of curry and streaks of brightly coloured grains mixed together. 

‘A good biryani takes time. The meat or vegetables, rice, spices and aromatics should all work together, and when you open it you should immediately get that fragrance. 

‘The grains should still be separate and the flavour should run throughout the dish. It’s a dish where shortcuts really show.’

5. I’d avoid a naan that’s completely pale and flat

‘When naan comes out of a proper hot tandoor, it shouldn’t look perfectly uniform,’ revealed the co-founder of KOKUM.

‘I want bubbles, blistering, charred patches and those slightly crisp edges alongside the softer centre. That’s where so much of the flavour comes from. 

‘If a naan arrives completely flat, pale and identical all over, I’d start wondering whether it has actually been cooked fresh or whether it has been bought in and reheated. Naan is so much better when it goes straight from the tandoor to your table.’

6. I’d never order chaat if I knew it was going to spend half an hour in a delivery bag

‘I love chaat, but it is probably one of the worst Indian dishes to order for a long journey home,’ admitted the chef. 

‘The whole point of a chaat is the textures and the burst of different flavours that you get just from one bite: something crunchy, something soft, cold yoghurt, and sweet, sour and spicy chutneys all together. 

‘Put that into a closed takeaway container for half an hour and all those lovely crisp bits start absorbing the sauces. 

‘By the time it reaches you, you’re eating something completely different. I’d always have chaat in the restaurant or eat it immediately.’

7. I’d think twice about fried starters that clearly haven’t just been fried

‘A really good bhaji should be hot, crisp and light when you bite into it. You know immediately when fried food has been sitting around because it starts becoming heavy, oily and soft,’ revealed the expert. 

‘Fried snacks are simple food, but that means there’s nowhere to hide. If they don’t taste freshly cooked, I’d rather order something else than have something that was fried earlier and reheated.’

8. I’m wary when every curry lets you choose ‘chicken, lamb, prawns or vegetables’

Sanjay said: ‘When I see the same curry listed with a drop-down choice of chicken, lamb, prawns or vegetables, I start questioning how that dish is being cooked. 

‘It can suggest that there is a big batch of sauce already made and your chosen protein is simply being added into it afterwards. 

‘That doesn’t automatically mean the food will be bad, and restaurants obviously have to do prep, but a lot of Indian cooking is about the ingredient cooking with the spices and gravy. Lamb cooking in a sauce creates a completely different flavour to prawns or chicken.’

9. If a lamb curry is incredibly cheap, I’d want to know why

‘Lamb simply isn’t a cheap ingredient, so if I see a lamb curry being sold at a surprisingly low price, I’m going to question how that price is being achieved,’ insisted Sanjay. 

‘What cut is being used? How much lamb is actually in the dish? Is it fresh or previously frozen? Is it British lamb or lower-cost imported meat, such as frozen New Zealand lamb? 

‘There’s nothing automatically wrong with imported or frozen lamb, but price and quality have to add up somewhere. Personally, I’d rather pay a little more and know that good-quality meat has gone into the dish.’