The Oval Brasserie

The Oval Brasserie is the long-established Indian and Bangladeshi restaurant on the south side of The Oval, the 1930s green-and-shops centre at the heart of Blackfen. The dining room has been working the same site for almost forty years and is one of the longest-running curry houses in this corner of Bexley, refurbished recently into a more contemporary leather-and-linen room while keeping the deep menu the regulars come back for.

The kitchen pitches itself as a brasserie rather than a takeaway shop — there is a proper sit-down dinner trade with white tablecloths, flower arrangements at every table and a fully licensed bar — but a busy collection counter and delivery service runs alongside it. The menu is the recognisable Bangladeshi-British curry-house list with serious depth in the chef's specials section: tandoori mixed grills, lamb chops, king prawn dishes and a careful balti, biryani and bhuna run. The Wednesday-evening banquet — a five-course set menu at a fixed price per head — is the regular midweek draw, alongside private-event hire for parties of around forty. Reservations taken on the kitchen's own site and through the Gourmet Society and Quandoo platforms. Trade runs lunchtime and evening; collection and delivery cover Blackfen, Lamorbey, Welling and Sidcup.