Tamil vegetarian food is best eaten as a piping hot brunch, fresh off the griddle - but a good dosa and sambar can be enjoyed under any conditions, really. The most classical of South Indian breakfast dishes, uttapam and dosa, are not only fantastically healthy but some of the original vegan heavyweights. Dosa Express, a temple to the dish, does about a billion variations, from rava style, to Indo-Chinese (and Schezwan as a separate category, for some reason), to the “cheese supreme.” The huge menu is a great template of the infinite variability of the oversized savoury lentil crepes. The idlis, various vadas, and chaats all also make for crowd-pleasing meals, any time of the day. Dosa Express is fully vegetarian, and is available for takeaway, in-house delivery, and on Uber Eats.

While one of Mahdi’s main draws is its bejeweled old-world interior that seems to be inspired by the designs of faberge eggs; the Iranian food served here holds up very well to being taken away and eaten at home. A long time favourite of Chiswick and Hammersmith locals, Mahdi serves up rich pistachioed naans, creamy kashke bademjan, and a mean mixed grill platter that tastes even better when heated up the next day. When it opens up again for in-person dining, make sure to ask for a raw egg yolk to mix into the rice, until then - you could always do this at home. Everything at Mahdi is halal, and while the restaurant offers its own delivery, it’s also on Uber Eats and Deliveroo.

Cue Point is a White City-based carnivore sanctuary; a self-styled British Afghan fusion barbecue joint that serves up dripping beef briskets, and Guy Fieri-esque lamb chops along with some honourable veggie sides offering respite in between meaty mouthfuls. The head chef, Joshua Moroney, has brought a plethora of international barbecue techniques and combined it with the Afghan heritage of Cue Point’s director, Mursal Saiq — creating a pithy menu full of slump-off-the-bone cuts. All the food at Cue Point is halal, and the finish-at-home meal kits can be ordered directly from its website.

Masgouf should be considered an absolute stalwart of London’s Levantine restaurant spread. Just about everything here is fantastic, but a particular shout-out goes to the kouzi — fall-apart lamb shanks served with long-grained rice, dotted with buttery cashews and fat white raisins. A very honourable mention also goes to the impossibly soft Iraqi-style minced lamb kebabs, called Makhsoos on the menu here. Everything here is halal, and Masgouf does its own delivery; offers collections; and is also on Deliveroo.

A dark, late-night, hole in the wall between Marble Arch and Edgware Road stations, Cafe Helen (and the associated Cafe Helen 2) serves five permutations of shawarma, and nothing else. A juicy, pickle-filled shawarma wrapped in some flimsy white paper might easily be the messiest thing in the world to eat while hurriedly walking away from the teeming crowd at the storefront, but it is also easily the most enjoyable. Everything at Cafe Helen is halal and available for takeaway.

The service at Lalibela is terrible, but the food is fantastic, which is why it’s great that it does takeaways. The fried injera starter is a great lead-in for the multicoloured vegetable, chicken, fish, and beef dishes that are either characterised as tibs or wats depending on whether they’re saucy berbere-based stews or chewy stir-fried cubed meats. The asa tibs is crunchy and pleasingly brackish fried dried fish, a perfect complement to the airy injera rolls. All the food at Lalibela is halal and available for takeaway, but the vegetable dishes make diners forget any carnivorous inclinations.

Bengali style Indo-Chinese food is reasonably spicy and warmingly cheerful, and Fatt Pundit proudly lives up to these expectations. Desi-Chinese food was borne out of the intermingling of Hakka cuisine with traditional Indian elements, producing excitements like chilli paneer lettuce cups, and salt and pepper okra. The pillowy billy momos are particularly memorable, and the ‘lollypop’ chicken with Szechuan chutney is addictive; get some malabar monkfish curry, sesame-spotted vegetables, and burnt ginger rice to have a well-balanced feast that wouldn’t be out of place in Tangra. Fatt Pundit serves halal beef, chicken, and lamb, and is available on Uber Eats and Deliveroo.

Some of the best things served at Good Friend Chicken (GFC?), are not actually made of chicken. The deep-fried lotus roots are the perfect balance of crispy and chewy; battered squid covered in plum powder are like mini umami-bombs ; the steaming tofu cubes are the perfect vehicle for the 10+ seasonings one can choose to coat their frie(n)d goodies with. Okay, all the chicken is famously unctuous too. Everything at GFC is halal, and the food is available for takeaway, but does not hold up too well when delivered.

Koya is celebrating ten years in London this year, but this dearly beloved udon-specialist has always been mature for its age. Koya lets diners choose between two styles of udon, the atsu-atsu style — hot udon served with hot broth — and hiyashi style — cold udon with cold sauce to pour over. The chewy, thick noodles are perfect with some crunchy vegetable or massive pieces of prawn tempura (available by the piece when ordering udon). The meat at Koya is not halal, but there are plenty of pescetarian and vegetarian options, like the salty smoked mackerel with greens or mixed seaweed udon bowl to name a few; both Koya City and Soho are on Deliveroo, and the food is also available for takeaway.

Camberwell Church Street is one of the best streets to eat at anywhere in London, and perhaps the world. Between the Kurdish and Xinjiangese restaurants is the slightly lesser known FM Mangal. The hypnotising smell of this Turkish ocakbasi teases you from up the road and around the corner, an entrancing smoke suggesting well-marinated meats and charring chillies. Once inside, FM Mangal traps you in an aromatherapeutic lobby, where one can spectate the rows of adana kebab and tavuk sis turning from translucent pink to golden brown skewers of joy. The FM Mangal Special is memorable, an aubergine, garlic, and yoghurt puree served on top of a minced lamb bed. Everything at FM Mangal is halal, and can be taken away or ordered on Deliveroo.

All the brioche burgers at Patty & Bun are pretty tasty, but the one to write home about really is the “lambshank redemption”. A pickled aubergine, crumbled feta, and baby courgette filled lamb-burger served with a dollop of cumin aioli. It’s huge, difficult to eat, and one of the best fast burgers in town. P&B also has about five vegetarian burgers (four vegan), that aren’t just tired variations of deep-fried portobello mushrooms. All the lamb and chicken is halal at Patty and Bun, the burgers are available for takeaway and orderable on Deliveroo.