General Bilimoria's Canteen - Beaconsfield HP9

Most Indian takeaways cook one style. Our Beaconsfield kitchen cooks six. There are Hyderabadi biryanis layered with saffron rice, Goan curries built on coconut and green herbs, a Tamil-style Lamb Chattinad heavy with black pepper, a slow-roasted Punjabi Nihari, a fiercely hot Bengali chicken curry and a Rajasthani lamb in Kashmiri chilli. Each comes from a different part of India and tastes nothing like the others.

Hyderabadi biryani is cooked differently from the biryani most takeaways serve. The rice and the meat are layered raw and sealed together, so the spice goes through the grain rather than sitting on top. We make four — vegetable, chicken, lamb, and a seafood version with scallops, squid and tiger prawns. Each is served with a mixed raita.

Goan green curry is built on mint, coriander and celery rather than tomato, then finished over the grill with peppers. It is fresher and sharper than a standard curry-house sauce. We serve it with chicken breast or with tiger prawns. The Malabar fish curry uses the same Goan-style base with coconut milk and curry leaf, made with monkfish.

Chattinad comes from Tamil Nadu and is built on freshly ground coriander, black pepper and red chilli — pepper-forward rather than chilli-forward. Nihari is the opposite: a slow-roasted Punjabi dish, marinated in herbs and spices and cooked down until the lamb gives way completely. If you only ever order tikka masala, these are the two worth changing for.

Fourteen dishes come straight off the charcoal. Honey-glazed lamb chops, Mahi fish tikka made with monkfish, salmon tikka with dill and fennel, whole tiger prawns, and two paneer shashliks for anyone not eating meat. Tandoori food is cooked dry and fast, so it arrives with the char still on it.

The vegetable section is a full menu in itself — six paneer dishes including makhani, karahi and tikka masala, plus dal makhani, sabzi jalfrezi, sag paneer, mutter paneer and Bombay aloo. All are cooked as main courses in their own right, not scaled-down side dishes.