In 1951 Gurbachan Singh Maan moved his fledgling Indian restaurant.

He left the City to take over new premises in Neal Street in Covent Garden, his plan being to take advantage of the trade from the nearby Indian High Commission.

It was a strategy that has worked handsomely.

Today, his grandson Sital Singh Maan runs what is the oldest North Indian restaurant in the U.K., though one that has always been at the forefront of new developments - in 1962 the Maan family brought over one of the first tandoor ovens to be seen in Britain.

Despite these occasional forays into fashion, the cuisine at the Punjab has always been firmly rooted where it belongs - in the Punjab.

Punjabi cuisine offers some interesting, non-standard Indian dishes, so start by ordering from among the less familiar items on the menu - kadu puri, for instance, a sweet and sharp mash of curried pumpkin served on a puri; or aloo tikka, which are described as potato cutlets but arrive as small deep-fried moons on a sea of tangy sauce; or chicken chat, which is diced chicken in rich sauce.

To follow, try the acharri gosht, or the acharri murgha.

The first is made with lamb, and the second with chicken.

The meat is 'pickled' in traditional Punjabi spices and, as a result, both meat and sauce have an agreeable edge of sharpness.

Chicken karahi is good, too - rich and thick.

The anari gosht combines lamb with pomegranate, while from the vegetable dishes channa aloo offsets the nutty crunch of chickpeas with the solace of potatoes.

Or you could try the benaam macchi tarkari, billed as a 'nameless fish curry, speciality of chef'.

Nameless, but not tasteless.