Despite being brought up on fish pies and roast beef, we Brits go crackers for curry. And what with chicken tikka marsala established as our nation’s favourite dish and a Brick Lane balti being a rite of passage for any true Londoner, we’ve quickly become a nation of curry aficionados. So in honour of National Curry Week, we’ve picked out two of the best curry joints in our capital and rounded up some seriously tasty recipes.  

Cây Tre, a Vietnamese bolt-hole on Old Street, has a rapid dinner service (not the place to go for a long chin-wag). But if you’re craving an authentic Saigon curry, its lamb neck offering definitely hits the spot. Its sauce appeared slightly thin on arrival, but was perfectly balanced with fragrant curry leaves and chunks of okra and aubergine.  Their Vietnamese chicken curry, spiked with lemongrass, and their butter fish curry, sour with tamarind, will also tempt those aforementioned aficionados.  

Billed as a Bombay café, Dishoom dishes up some of the best curry outside Brick Lane. With its tiled floors, low-hung lanterns and Indian medicines decorating the bathrooms, the ‘faded elegance’ vibe seems to amp up the authenticity of its food. I opted for the house black daal (simmered for 24 hours), the rajma-chawal (slow-cooked spiced kidney beans generously heaped on basmati rice) and the chicken ruby curry, mopping every smear of sauce up with a paper-thin roomali roti. If your tongue’s crinkling with inferno-like heat after chomping on a chilli, steadily sip a rose and cardamom lassi for an instant cool-down. Don’t miss out on their house chai – a silky concoction, warm with spice – that makes the perfect non-alcoholic nightcap. Tip: be sure to book, this place is rammed even on weeknights and has a queue snaking around the block by 7pm!

If you fancy an Indian feast at home with hand-made trimmings (poppadoms out of a packet don’t count), Anjum Anand has some brilliant vegetarian appetisers up her sleeve, like these steamed dumplings with spicy chutney. Tip: the yoghurt that accompanies these dinky Tandoori potatoes works wonders on any Vindaloo victims. For a show stopping main course, nothing beats a biryani. This beefy version from the Hairy Bikers may look complicated (it has a whopping 27 ingredients), but it’s surprisingly straightforward once you’ve whizzed up the spice blend. For the novice curry cooks, you can’t go wrong with a chicken korma (the ideal dish for the chilli shy).

If you're looking for a lunch time treat over the weekend, try these curried chicken wraps. Sandwiched together in a warm tortilla, the curried chicken, garlicky yoghurt and crunchy lettuce combo packs every mouthful full of flavour. And we haven’t forgotten about all you veggies out there. This Thai vegetable jungle curry, full of green goodness, is gloriously hot, sweet, sharp and salty.

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