Camellia Panjabi is a little displeased. Three months after the refurbishment and reopening of Veeraswamy, London's oldest and perhaps most famous Indian restaurant, the critical reaction has been warm. But one review, in Harden's restaurant guide, rankles.

"Harden's said that the food has been weakened, as if it had been toned down for Western tastes," says Panjabi. "It annoys me because there's still this mistaken impression that Indian food is searing hot. The truth is that it isn't. The population couldn't live with it if it was."

So while the curry dishes at Veeraswamy are mostly mild, this is because they represent the reality in India. "The Keralan chicken stew, for example, is actually a Syrian-Christian dish from the region and is ever so delicate," Panjabi says. "Chicken begum bahar, a home-style Lucknow chicken korma, is also very delicate."

Panjabi is well qualified to set the record straight. Her book, 50 Great Curries of India, is a modern classic for Indian food lovers. She's also one-third of the hugely successful restaurant group Masala World, together with sister Namita Panjabi and Namita's husband, Ranjit Mathrani. The empire includes some of the best Indian restaurants in London: Chutney Mary, Amaya and three Masala Zones.

Less familiar
For Veeraswamy, Panjabi was keen to include dishes from all over India, including those from regions whose food doesn't often get a billing in the UK. "Mangalore, for example, is not a tourist destination but it has wonderful seafood," she says. Similarly, people are less familiar with the cuisines of Lucknow (apart from the korma), Calcutta, Bombay and Hyderabad.

Muslim-influenced dishes include a starter of Rajasthani khichada (£6.50), a lamb, bulgar wheat and lentil porridge; the nizami murgh (£16), featuring chicken breast and chicken koftas, pine nuts, lemon and rose petals; and the bori chicken biryani (£16) from Bombay. Both the biryanis on the menu are traditionally sealed with dough, broken to deliver a great aromatic waft across the table.

Head chef Gopal Kochak, who has been at Veeraswamy for three-and-a-half years, was sent out to India with his sous chef to research recipes, guaranteeing extra attention to detail even for those dishes already familiar in the UK. More than 20 recipes, for example, were tested for murgh makhani, while rogan josh is given its characteristic bright red colour at Veeraswamy thanks to the dried flower of the cockscomb plant. "This is very rare even in Kashmiri restaurants," says Kochak. "The flower can only be picked during summer, when the plants are mature."

Other new features include a special Sunday menu (£20, three courses) including crab cooked three ways - with butter and garlic, a red masala and a green masala. The menu also features hot jalebis - deep-fried sweets soaked in syrup. "These will be popular with children and parents alike," says Panjabi.

One more unusual dish is the oyster kebab (£10.50 as a starter). For these, Kochak marinades rock oysters in yogurt with Kashmiri chillies, cumin, lime juice and powdered cardamom, then skewers them and cooks them for one-and-a-half minutes in the tandoor oven.

A restaurant refurbishment such as Veeraswamy's, however, requires a delicate touch - firm enough to give the business a fresh appeal but gentle enough not to lose too much of the original. Panjabi and Kochak thus decided to keep some of the customer favourites on the menu, including mussels moilee (£7), fresh mussels in an aromatic ginger sauce; lobster Malabar curry (£26), with turmeric, coconut and green mango; and sea bass Pollichatu (£18), a Keralan recipe where the fillets are cooked in banana leaves.

Keralan dishes
If you're looking for more heat, some of these Keralan dishes are carefully marked on the menu with a chilli pepper symbol, while Kochak explains how Hyderabadi food is also characterised by stronger spicing.

And of course, Panjabi says, the kitchen will always be happy to add extra heat to any dish - although in defence of the way the Veeraswamy chefs execute the menu, that kind of request is heard less and less frequently. "Occasionally, people will still come in and say 'Where's my vindaloo?'," she says. "But today's customers are now travelling all over India and want once again to taste dishes they've had on holiday."

What's on the menu

• Kolhapuri chicken soup, with herbs and and saffron, £5.50
• Green leaf bhajis, coated in a light batter, £5
• Crab kebab, ginger, chilli and fresh lime, £7/£13.50
• Nihari, a slow-cooked aromatic lamb dish from Lucknow, £19.50
• Chingri malai, a prawn curry from Calcutta, £17
• Chorchori, pumpkin, aubergine, snow peas, carrots, cauliflower, £6.50
• Khubuli, basmati rice cooked with lentils and spices, £4
• Chocolate kulfi, £5.50
• Rasgollas, £5.50

Veeraswamy, Victory House,
99 Regent Street, London W1B 4RS
Tel: 020 7734 1401 www.veeraswamy.com