An excellent analysis. To think that I might be driving an Indian car soon (hope to buy a Jag ) - what a wonderful world we live in.

SH

SH, London,

the curry houses are not indian, around 70% of them are in fact Bangladeshi in origin. Time to rephrase the term methinks.

akram, london,

Erm. No plugging going on here whatsoever

Gimble, Arundel, UK

I've always thought that the popularity of Indian restaurants and curry houses in Britain is because a lot of Britons like the idea of having Indian people in servitude. It's the colonial legacy you see and if they can get away with abusing the staff, so much the better.

For my part, a few years agao I visited what is allegedly the best vegetarian Indian restaurant on Leicester's Belgrave Road, where there are numerous Indian restaurants, vegetarian and omnivorous, all catering for a clientele that is mainly of South Asian origin. Without wishing to be impolite, I wasn't that impressed with what I had, I can cook better vegetarian meals myself.

Paul, Coventry,

A few points: firstly, decor and food quality are not related, and neither are authenticity and food quality. Secondly, to suggest that these curry houses only come to life after 11pm is non-sensical. Most I know also serve takeaways and do most of their business before the pubs even begin to fill up. Thirdly, racist abuse! I've never seen it. While I've no doubt it happens, anybody reading this might assume it's far more commonplace than it is. Only a fool would dare insult someone responsible for serving them food. And finally, no serious curry lover would ever consider a supermarket sauce or ready meal to compare to the real thing.

Tim Smith, Spalding,

I've eaten at both Veeraswamy (heavenly) and Al Frash, both excellent depending on what you really want (Veeraswamy when on expenses, and Al Frash when paying myself!) Having recently been to india I totally agree with the comment about the regional variations - think about English food! Cornish pasties, pie and mash, oatcakes???
For those not too far away, try the Lodge in Shenstone, near Lichfield (BYO)

Sue, Birmingham,

Who needs chefs from India?? It is just another culinary skill that anyone with the bent can master. I attended classes In Bournemouth,run by an excellent Indian lady , from then on I only visit restaurants on occassions , I get what I like I know what exactly is in it and my family enjoy it. I was never happy in the past with the stuff served up in Indian restaurants as they only seemed to choke you with garlic and chilli. I soon learned what a delight Indian cookery and the variety is. One of the requrements of the course was that if we visited an Indian restaurant the wrath of the Teacher was upon you.

Dave Madley, Alicante, Spain

Living in Manchester with its famed (or at least notorious) 'curry mile' in Rusholme (our Brick Lane) I can offer a shining example of what this article's driving at. A new Indian restaurant recently opened in Chorlton-cum-Hardy in the south of the city, utilising a few clever cooking techniques to serve 'low fat' Indian grub with no colourings or additives, and promising to use only fresh fruit and veg (a rarity in itself). The fact that everything I've tried there tastes quite delicious is no doubt the major reason why it's often hard to get a table, while the curry mile's slightly cheaper offerings are sometimes impossible to give away. Times and tastes have changed.

Richard, Manchester,

Spot on Sathnam. Most of the curry houses in the UK are a relic of the past and hopefully soon be replaced by an authentic Indian experience. Just moved back after living for 3 years in London and it was disappointing to see some awful food in the curry houses masquerading as 'authentic curry'.

Punit, New Delhi, India

Don't be so pompous Mr Sanghera. Be honest, when did you last eat in one of these unauthentic, "slop" serving havens for racist drunks?

Not all lower end curry houses are as you describe. Yes, they are cheap and cheerful. No, the food will never win any Michelin stars. But some of us still love them.

Brett, Manchester, UK

Best curry ever, in my humble opinion, was the house Chicken curry at Veeraswamy's, Regent Street. Sublime with Nan bread. Not hot, just hit the spot.

Andy Lewis, Chelmsford, England

I recently met up with friends & we went to a curry house in Moseley, Birmingham called Al frash - absolutely delicious food. We all had various curries - all freshly made with fantasticly huge naan bread.

Dee, Midlands,

I think Sathnam needs to do a little more research on Northern Indian cooking, which spans far beyond the Punjabi Sikh cooking that he seems to be familiar with. Balti and Tikka Masala are traditional Mughlia dishes that have been cooked in muslim kitchens for centuries. These dishes are extremely popular and are an inherent part of Indian/Pakistani cuisine. I suggest that Mr. Sangehra should get out of London and actually try one of these authentic dishes....he would be surprised to know that Northern Indian cooking does not consist solely of vegetarian dishes like Aloo Gobi and Daal.

Anum, Richmond Hill, Canada

There are some interesting points here, but why bother mentioning Birmingham in your opening sentence and then proceed with this article from a London-centric perspective?

In Brum we essentially have two types of 'Indian' restaurant (for want of a more pedantically accurate label) - the generic 'slop' kind in the student areas, which for most students will actually be better than the choices in their hometowns and fulfil the market demand for a local evening out ; and those in the Asian areas which serve superb food in surroundings that range from basic to trendy. The latter tend to be cheaper - £7 to £10 for 2 courses - and offer a consistently high quality of food (and music!) to those of us who have cars and wish to go out primarily for a high-quality meal. In these quality establishments there would only be one result of filling the kitchen with Eastern Europeans (or Brits for that matter) - a move towards 'slop' and excessive grease over time.

Adam Neilson, Birmingham,

I've told Sathnam about two really nice Indian Restaurants in Bushey [ the Sonargaon] and Elstree[the Eastern Brasserie]

Polite staff, nice food. How authentic it is he would know better than I but its good. I'm hoping he's going to bring Giles Coren out to the sticks - all of a mile outside Stanmore - and invite me too.

Hope Sathnam's got SatNav. Har-har.

Barry Hyman, Bushey Heath, UK

Anyone in London should try the Kasturi Indian restaurant on Kenton Road Harrow . We've been customers there for nearly 20 years and have never found better. The owners are the chefs and the waiters..... and that's the key !

Yes there are hideous bucket shops out there, pouring out the one pot masalas, and if they shut down, the overall quality will improve.

Roarke, Wembley, UK

I think in truth the relationship between the proprietors and punters in the UK curry house trade has historically too often been based on something like mutual contempt. Pretty ropey food has been sold at high margins to drunken people who want nothing more than a place to drink after hours and shovel down something with a macho level of heat. The owners have made fortunes and the punters found a place to feel smug and superior. I too welcome the demise of these ubiquitous curry house selling gloop. I'm pleased the "Asian community" (whatever that actually is) is moving on and I hope the rest of the UK populace does too! I'm off again soon to Newcastle's Rasa restaurant confident of wonderful food in beautiful suroundings. The irony is that good quality Indian restaurants are really not that much more expensive than their scuffed flock wall-papered rivals; they will survive as more people start to recognise and demand decent quality; good riddance to the rest.

Paul, Newcastle, Uk

Sathnam needs to get out of London, and see what is really happening - he's a little behind with the times - the story just rejigs old stereotypes. Things have moved on fast, its him stuck in 1978.

Shaffiq Mahmood, Halifax, UK

I had heard the old story about the Balti being invented in Birmingham or somewhere, but when I lived in Pakistan in 1995 I regularly saw Baltis being served in the main cities, and also going under the name Balti. I then assumed it might have come from the state of Baltistan in Pakistan. Though of course it is possible that the Balti could have made its way to Pakistan from England, but in that case it must have caught on very quickly. Anyway, the food I remember most fondly from those days was the breads - freshly made nans, and especially the parathas.

bill, Madrid,

When I grew up in Birmingham the rumour was that English curry houses were actually superior to their Indian counterparts due to the ready availability of fresh ingredients.

Over the past 3 years my work has regularly taken me to India and after tasting the fabulous range or delicious, tasty and mostly healthy food over there I can no longer tolerate the greasy slop served up in the generic British curry house.

British curry houses are poor quality and the proprietors are complacent, surely there is a business opportunity for a new generation of enterprising individuals to up the stakes.

James Graham, Birmingham,

But it's not just Indian 'curry houses' that are affected by the new immigration regime. Chinese restaurants are equally threatened by staffing problems. The draconian measures being used against owners using undocumented workers are worthy of 1930s Germany. Consequently, the numbers of these reataurants will fall unless the government uses work permits more sensibly. It looks like the restaurant industry will be an unintended victim of the populist induced hysteria against foreigners.

William Thomson, Guildford, UK

how much has the 3 billion pound curry industry given back to society, like training the next generation of chefs in association with the local catering collages. i recently met a indian lady who has worked many years in various curry houses, she is unable to get a job because the restaurants are after cheap labour working for less and who live above the restaurants.

rajan mathew, BIRMINGHAM, united kingdom

Sathnam, the generic chicken tikka masala 'curry house' exists because there is a demand for it. British people like these dishes, they are like a McDonalds fast-food type of generic cuisine. That the dishes bear little relevance to authentic Indian food or the massive variety of cuisines of India is neither here nor there. These were dishes created for the British tastebud. If there are some that are lost in a timewarp that's just the way it goes in some parts of the country and it's not a reflection on how cool or not cool Indians are in the UK today. And yes it is sad that people still have to face racist abuse in Indian restaurants. At some level, Indians in the UK do have their choices in life shaped by prejudice one way or another. The triumph is to beat that. So I am glad to see that you mentioned Spinder Dhaliwal's research. The innovation, creativity, risk and mentality of the British Indian community is really inspiring, especially in the many fields of business.

Jay Kang, London,

I love curry houses but as a vegetarian in honesty they are expensive. I see no reason why a curry that arrives at your table within five minutes with bits of veg that cost a few pence at the market should cost upwards of £7.

As to the shortage of specialist chefs I'm sorry but I never saw that as anything other than Asians trying to get their extended family members a British visa. the last I heard was that official unemployment levels in Bradford of male members of the Pakistani community was as high as fifty percent of the population.

D whitts, sheffield,

I enjoyed your article, and agree with your points. May I sugest that if you are ever in Liverpool, try a restaurant called "Coriander". Authentic Indian and Sri Lankan food, a menu to delight in, tasteful decor and none of the "post pub" crowd. It"s just about the food. It is trying very hard to move away from the "pub then curry" culture and instead to encourage people to enjoy the subtle differences available from the cuisine of the region.

Graeme, Box Hill, Australia / Victoria

Bravo! Bullseye in analysis....could not agree with you more...

Rakesh Sumit, London, UK