A toast to desi pubs of England

Desi pubs in England are serving Indian food and British ales to a casually multicultural clientele.

When I lived in England, my two favourite places were the curry house and the pub - but I never imagined that the two could become one. Before my time, some British pubs ran "whites-only" bars. The Blue Gates in Smethwick famously refused to serve US civil rights activist Malcolm X in its "smoking room" in 1965.

Although public segregation was eventually outlawed, a well-founded fear of drunken racists left most South Asians socialising within their own communities. Meanwhile, a few adventurous Indians began to take over the management of rundown pubs in heavily immigrant areas, and make them their own. Today's "desi" pubs (the word means "land" or "country") are generally run by Punjabi landlords, who serve Indian food and British ales to a casually multicultural clientele.

On my last trip to England, I dropped into a couple of desi pubs in West London. I had lunch at the Prince of Wales (pictured) in gritty Southall, where the chaotic decor includes floral upholstery, Celtic calligraphy and a picture of dancing Sikhs. There is an extensive curry menu, but every diner is eating grilled meats with naan bread. I opt for the £12.50 ($23) chicken grill which, on reflection, was probably designed to share. The kitchen doors open with a violent plume of spicy smoke, and I'm served a robust 12-piece platter of chicken tikka, chicken kebabs and chicken wings. The chicken is hearty and lean but it's the tamarind relish, gleaming mint sauce and sizzling onions that make the dish so moreish.

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That evening, I visit the African Queen in nearby Hounslow, where almost everyone in the dining room is Indian, and there's tandoori food at every table. This time, I choose the paneer tikka and seekh kebabs. The paneer is particularly good.

I enjoy desi pubs because I love Indian food and beer, but also because they are symbolic of a much better England than the nation I left back in 1989. The careless, endemic racism of my youth is largely a thing of the past. Even the Blue Gates in Smethwick is a desi pub now.