Ben Norum takes a look at Indian food in London in the first part of a blog series exploring the world of cuisines on offer in London, created in honour of Taste of London’s most international year yet and a truly global summer for London. No cuisine is as embedded in the British psyche as Indian, and no high street is complete without a curry house. Therefore it’s no surprise that statistics show Indian to be our most popular alternative to traditional British dishes, way ahead of next runners Chinese and Italian. Recent years have seen a tide of change for Indian cuisine. Whilst ubiquitous anglo-indian curries and ready-meal chicken tikka masala will always have their place, us Brits are starting - slowly - to take into account the style of cooking which actually goes on in India, and the vast regional differentiations within it. There is not really any such thing as true ‘Indian’ food, but rather an excess of thirty different regional cuisines wh...

2011 marks Taste of London's eighth outing, an event that has come to define the capital's summer food scene. Taste popped up before 'pop-up' became foodie parlance, did 'street' food before it became hip, and pioneered the now ubiquitous trend for small plates. Inevitably for a restaurant festival nearly a decade old, there has been an annual need to percolate new ideas, attract an ever-changing cast of chefs and remain at the sharp edge of eating in London. But Taste isn't only about what's new; there's a vein of dedicated chefs and restaurants, artisans, importers, sommeliers and distillers who've returned year-on-year to cross the counter and meet their audience, pow-wow with colleagues and challenge the competition. Best in Taste To round-up four days of Taste, we've put together a by no means definitive assortment of highlights, starting with the Best in Taste awards launch. The judges, led by Pomp editor Joe Warwick and including Jay Rayner and Noma's René Redzep...