It’s easy to forget in these days of supermarket Indian ready meals that back in 1977, proper Indian cuisine was very exotic indeed. In that year, M. Y. Khan founded his restaurant in the then-quiet calm of Westbourne Grove, and the family still runs this big restaurant in what is now trendy Bayswater. In 2000, the family decided to stop selling alcohol in the restaurant in accordance with Islam. This has not affected Khan’s popularity one bit, and they now serve a vast range of Halal fruit cocktails, all created in-house. The extensive menu includes more than seventy dishes, featuring favorites such as methi gosht, chicken tikka, bombay aloo and mutter paneer. It also marks dishes that contain nuts, are vegetarian or are a healthy option, useful in a cuisine with a love of clarified butter. Khan’s famous Butter Chicken, for example, also contains cream, cashew nuts, coconut, masala sauce and almonds. The chicken balti is not some congealed dark brown gravy mixture as at cheaper restaurants, but an aromatic dish made with a light mixture of fresh herbs. Fans of the hot and spicy should try the chicken jalfrezi, a curry that explodes with taste thanks to plenty of green chillies and herbs. If the sheer range of choice leaves you bewildered, try a thali, the Indian equivalent of a tasting menu. The non-vegetarian thali includes rogan josh, mutter paneer, raita, papad, nan, pilau rice, sheek kebab and melt-in-the-mouth tandoori chicken. There is also a children’s menu with mild dishes for the junior palette.