Tamila
The owners cut a full window into the kitchen wall, which in a curry house next to a mainline station tells you where the money went.
Why go
Prince Durairaj and Glen Leeson built their name on two Islington desi pubs, the Tamil Prince and the Tamil Crown. Tamila is what happens when they take the food out of the pub. Ed Cunningham, reviewing for Time Out in March 2025, described the change: this one "isn't a desi pub but a curry house for fast, casual dining and with an all-day menu. Without the loveable musk of an ex-pub, the space is much airier and restaurant-y, while the service is sharper and more attentive" (ref).
He gave it five stars and called it their most polished room yet. Eleven months later Jake Missing gave it 7.7 for The Infatuation and made the case more narrowly: "nothing here is watered down and the thick, tingling rub on the half tandoori chicken is a cut above the rest. As far as respites from St. Pancras go, this is up there" (ref).
Both are worth having, and they disagree about the bread. Cunningham: "And the roti? Supremely fluffy, a mighty and worthy signature dish." Missing, who has eaten the original's, rates the Tamil Prince roti "among the best in London" and finds this one "a little too crisp in parts".
One thing to be clear about. This brand won a Michelin Bib Gourmand in the 2026 guide and it went to the Clapham site on Northcote Road, not to this one (Time Out's published list).
Order this / avoid
- Order: the half tandoori chicken, thick with masala rub. Masala dosa, folded rather than rolled, with the coconut and tomato chutneys. Onion bhajis, which come out dry enough to crackle. Paneer butter masala and the dhal. A gunpowder margarita, built with masala dust where the salt goes.
- Avoid: expecting the Tamil Prince's roti. Coming for the room. Assuming the Bib is this address. The junction outside at rush hour.
What locals & experts say
- Ed Cunningham, Time Out London, 6 March 2025 (5 out of 5, Recommended): "Prince Durairaj and Glen Leeson are good at this by now. Excellent, in fact... Fourth time around with Tamila King's Cross, the experience is more refined than ever." On the kitchen: "Food-over-booze indicators don't get much more obvious than Tamila's massive interior window directly into the kitchen." On the plates: "The dhal flashed all sorts of vegetables across your tongue, while paneer butter masala was creamy and mightily generous in size." ref
- Jake Missing, The Infatuation, 27 February 2026, 7.7 out of 10: a "low-stakes, reliably flavourful dinner option for a nondescript midweek catch-up". On the dosa: "What this dosa lacks in size it makes up for in excellent cooking." ref
- The critical lines, both from the later review: "The boxy room is a little uninspiring", and on the bread, "a little too crisp in parts" beside a Tamil Prince roti he rates "among the best in London". ref
- Michelin, 2026 guide: the Bib Gourmand went to "Tamila, Clapham", one of thirteen new London Bibs that year. Not this site. ref
Good to know
- Where: 8 Caledonian Road, N1 9DU, on the Caledonian Road and Pentonville Road corner beside King's Cross. The Infatuation prints 6-8; the venue and the hygiene register say 8.
- Timing: an all-day a la carte menu, served through the week. Opening hours are not published on the venue's own page and neither review states them, so check before you go.
- Booking: through SevenRooms, with a separate form for groups and private dining. Walk-ins are plausible outside peak.
- Diet: vegetarian eating is well covered. Time Out's reviewer ate a full vegetarian meal here and named paneer tikka, paneer butter masala, dhal, masala dosa and chilli cheese dosa. That is a reviewer's account rather than a statement from the kitchen, and no vegan, halal or gluten claim is made.
- Hygiene: FSA rating 5, Islington, inspected 24 January 2025, FHRSID 1770537. That was four days after opening, so it is a nineteen-month-old snapshot.
- Sites: five under the same two owners. The Tamil Prince and The Tamil Crown, both Islington desi pubs. Tamila Clapham at 39 Northcote Road, which came first and holds the 2026 Bib. This one, the second Tamila, opened January 2025. And a Soho site at 19-20 Poland Street, registered with Westminster in March 2026, which the brand's own banner says opens on 1 October.
Jeff's take (his words)
- Note: none. His saved-places export carries this row with an empty note. The master list's line about the Tamil Prince team came from a later enrichment pass, not from him.
Verdict (Chef Jeff ladder)
could-visit — Eat here if King's Cross is where you are, which for a lot of people it is. Prince Durairaj and Glen Leeson built the Tamil Prince and the Tamil Crown as desi pubs and then took the food out of the pub: this is a fast, all-day curry house with a large window cut straight into the kitchen, which Ed Cunningham called the clearest food-over-booze signal a room can give when Time Out gave it five stars in March 2025. Eleven months later Jake Missing scored it 7.7 for The Infatuation and put it more plainly, that nothing here is watered down and the tandoori rub is a cut above, but that the room is boxy and the roti is a step below what the original does. That is the shape of the place. It is a very good station restaurant from operators on their fourth room, and their strongest evidence is at other addresses. The 2026 Michelin Bib Gourmand this brand won belongs to Tamila in Clapham, not to this door, and the roti crown, per the outlet that has eaten both, still sits with the Tamil Prince.