In the minds of most Indians who travel to London, there are two kinds of Indian restaurants in the city. The first kind has nothing much to do with India or even with Indian food for that matter. These restaurants are run by Bangladeshis, most of them from the Sylhet region, and serve a made-up cuisine that no Indian would willingly eat. (I imagine that any self-respecting Bangladeshi would also pass out if he had to eat the ‘Madras curry.’ ) But they have catered to Brits for decades and no matter how much damage they have done to the image of authentic Indian food, the curry house is a much-loved British institution.

Then there is a second category of Indian restaurants most of which opened towards the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st. These are usually run by restaurateurs from India or by second generation immigrants. These are the excellent restaurants that get the Michelin stars and are associated with famous chefs: Gymkhana, Amaya, Kanishka, Jamavar, etc.

Indians go to the second category and wouldn’t be seen dead in the first category of restaurants.

But there is one restaurant that defies this categorisation and combines history with Michelin starred cuisine. It’s not a curry house. And it’s not one of the smart new trendy restaurants. It is a true original; one of a kind. And now it may well be evicted by the British crown from its home of nearly a century.

Veeraswamy is London’s oldest surviving Indian restaurant. It was established in 1926 when the only Indian restaurants were much more modest enterprises. For instance, a man called Dean Mahomed had opened the Hindustane Curry House in the 19th century, but it did not last very long, and Mahomed may be........

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