Khan's

‘’Upon England's mountains green and pleasant pastures seen, shine forth upon the clouded hills was Khan’s builded here’’*

Yes and well, someone had to blog about it. Khan’s serves up British cuisine, not the best but certainly indicative of what the rest of Britain have been eating for over half a century from Maryport to Tiverton. If I get visitors to London wanting a bit of Brit curry, I bring them here first. It’s all very well mentioning Tayyabs or Lahore Kebab House, but they’re too authentic and chicken tikka masala is omitted from their menus. Like E Pellicci, Wonky, Kebab Machine and F.Cooke; one has never actually been to London until one has dined at Khan’s. This notorious and equally venerable place is a London institution, like its Cantonese counterpart Wonky, the inherent flaws make both these restaurants beguiling to visit.

Khan’s has existed for more than thirty years and still owned by the same family of the same name. It’s huge and imposing but ultimately dated in appearance. It’s also perfect for solo diners like myself to venture here for lunch, I never feel out of sorts at Khan's. I’ve also noticed that Khan’s is a magnet for the semi-domiciled but idle rich (quit the mincing of words…) Middle Eastern community in this part of London. And speaking of which, booze is no longer served and I daresay BYO is discouraged. Khan’s has a reputation with its service, I wouldn’t call the waiters rude but they've been consistently ignorant and terse. Like Wonky again, the service has since mellowed over the years and best described as just ‘nice’…how boring!

It was ever so difficult to wield a camera in this restaurant, managed to accost one of the waiters to take this picture. Yes that’s me oozing smugness (at last and you haven’t missed much!). I’m glad I resembled a tourist.

I usually go for the Meat Thali which consists of rogan josh, mutter paneer, raita, papadom, nan, pilau rice, a piece of sheek kebab and a piece of tandoori chicken for a tenner. It’s consistently alright I suppose and the quantity is large enough for me to skip dinner as well. But I came here this afternoon to try out the Winter Buffet Deal at £8.50 per person. Times are obliviously still challenging otherwise they wouldn’t be offering this winter thing in the middle of summer. The eat as much as you like dishes included the following-

Onion Bhaji
Chicken Wings
Sag Chicken (you know what with the Popeye treatment)
Chicken Chilli Masala (hooray tourists, that’s actually chicken tikka masala)
Vegetable Curry (vaguest understatement)
Bhindi (Lady Fingers)
Chana Masaladar (accelerated wind-inducing dish)
Vegetable Soup (oh dear gawd…)
Loads of pilau rice (veggies beware, cooked in chicken stock!) and nan bread.

That fraught looking dish on the right is essentially a cabbage soup, it was disgusting and not even Oliver Twist would be able to finish his first helping of it!

Well there you have it, more choices than my usual meat thali meal, but lamb has been obliterated from the offerings. Overall impression of the buffet meal was simply average but psychologically satisfying. The food at Khan’s can never set the world on fire, my experience of it has always been ok but never despondently poor. If I get a shout from one of you folks wanting to meet up here for lunch I certainly wouldn’t say no, as mediocrity brings a welcome change to what I’m generally accustomed to. Long live Khan’s, long live Plan B!

*With apologies to William Blake.


13-15 Westbourne Grove
Bayswater
London W2 4UA

khansrestaurant.com