The décor at this longstanding all-you-can-eat Indian restaurant is worth the visit alone – the walls are covered with articles, posters, slogans and questionable karmic concepts, all geared toward the promotion of vegetarianism. Some of it is spurious: ‘Carnivorism causes war! Vegetarianism creates peace!’ And lots of it is old (we spotted a ‘Daily Express’ front page with a 5p price tag). The less said about a poem in the gents’ telling you not to be sad if your son dies, the better.

Still, being surrounded by all this vaguely militant mumbo jumbo is a very low price to pay for one of London’s most interesting dining experiences. The food – a collection of vegetable curries, colourful salads, onion bhajis and paratha so light they could do with a tether – is good, and a bargain at £6.50 for as much as you can manage. And so what if a layer of oil on a couple of the curries (not to mention the delicious deep-fried crisp of those bhajis) makes a mockery of Indian Veg’s cathartic credentials? You’re still getting some serious bang for your buck.

It’s little wonder, then, that it’s such a popular haunt for students and local yoof filling up before a night out on the Islington tiles – especially as it’s BYOB, too. But if you’re not drinking? There are cans of Coca Cola, stacked high by the door heading downstairs to the kitchen. Health trips and right-on ethics have to end somewhere, right?