Old Favourites Hit Hard Times The London Indian sector restaurant scene has taken a bit of a hammering recently with the disappearance of award winners Café Lazeez and Sarkhel's. Café Lazeez, often thought of as one of the instigators of 'new wave Indian cuisine' once had three branches in London and one in Birmingham it came as a shock to regulars when driving past the original restaurant in Brompton Road SW7 to see it boarded up and on the market. Despite rumours, Café Lazeez Soho is still fully operational at the time of writing. Of equal surprise was the disappearance of Udit Sarkhel's eponymous restaurant in Southfields SW18. Acknowledged as one of London's top Indian chefs, onetime Executive Chef of Bombay Brasserie, Udit carved out considerable acclaim for his own restaurant in fashionable Southfields near Wimbledon and by all reports business was brisk when the restaurant was suddenly put into liquidation. One restaurateur described the closures as a 'disaster' and it must be causing a few to look over their shoulders.