Halal Chai and Desserts for Harrow

Harrow has more than one station and only Harrow-on-the-Hill is on the Metropolitan line, so that is the one to aim for if you are coming by tube. From there the line runs out through North Harrow and Pinner before it reaches Northwood Hills, so this is a few stops rather than one or two. Check the indicator, because some Metropolitan services run fast on this stretch and skip the smaller stations including Northwood Hills. Once you are off, there is no onward walk: the shop faces the station across the road. By car it is a drive of a few miles out to the north west and there is free and pay-and-display parking on Joel Street and the side roads around the parade, which is easier than parking in Harrow itself. The H11 and 282 also stop on Joel Street outside the door, and the TfL app is the place to check the route from your end.

It would be daft to pretend Harrow is short of options, so here is what actually pulls people out. The whole thing is halal, kitchen included, with a halal roundel on the door and no alcohol served in the building, which makes it usable for an evening out with anyone. It is a chai house rather than a restaurant that happens to sell tea: karak, masala and pink Kashmiri chai are the centre of the menu, all £3.25 for a small and £3.50 for a regular. The donuts are fried in store rather than bought in. The tables have ludo and snakes and ladders printed on them. And it is open late, until eleven Sunday to Thursday and midnight on Friday and Saturday, which is when most of the traffic from further out arrives. If none of that is what you are after, somewhere closer to home will serve you better, and that is a fair answer.

Because it is a journey, this tends to be an evening rather than a quick stop. The wraps are all £4.95, in paratha or tortilla, and run through seekh, chicken tikka, paneer, masala omelette and sausage and egg, which is the easiest thing to eat if you are travelling on. Loaded chips are £6.95 with chicken, keema or paneer, cheese, jalapeños and house sauces. Toasties and paninis are £4.95 each. If you want to sit properly, chicken curry and rice is £6.95 and chicken biryani is £7.95, limited daily. For dessert, gulab jamun with ice cream is £5.95, the Strawberry Kunafa Cup is £7.95 and a box of twelve variety donuts is £14.95, which is the order for anyone taking something back to a house full of people. Mocktails are £5.95 and the viral hot chocolate is £4.95, topped with chocolate shavings, marshmallows, whipped cream and sprinkles.

Three practical notes, given the distance. First, weekend evenings are the busiest and slowest period in the shop, and waits are the most common complaint in the public reviews, so a long trip is better made on a weekday or earlier in the evening. Second, if you are coming as a group, ring 01923 918456 or use the enquiry form on the contact page before you travel, because the large tables and booths go quickly and a call costs you nothing. Catering, family platters and Iftar boxes are all done with notice. Third, on delivery: the menu is on Deliveroo, Just Eat and Uber Eats, but the delivery radius is set by those platforms and not by us, and from Harrow it may well fall outside it. Put your postcode into one of the apps and it will tell you in seconds, which is more reliable than any promise a website could make.