Dishoom (restaurant)

Dishoom is a British chain of Indian restaurants.^[2] It was founded in 2010 by co-founders Shamil and Kavi Thakrar, along with Amar and Adarsh Radia, who both left the business in 2017. It was designed to match the Irani cafés popular in Bombay in the 1960s.^[3]

Dishoom

Interior of Dishoom in King's Cross, London
Industry	Restaurants
Founded	2010
Headquarters	London, England, UK
Number of locations	10 Dishoom Restaurants, 3 Dishoom Permit Room Restaurants
Area served	Kensington, Covent Garden, Shoreditch, Canary Wharf, Manchester, King's Cross, Edinburgh, Carnaby, Birmingham, Battersea.
Key people	Shamil Thakrar,[1] Kavi Thakrar, Naved Nasir
Website	dishoom.com

Described by some as Indian street food, the restaurant describes its offering as Bombay comfort food with an evolving menu.^[4] The menu includes breakfast naan breads.^[5]

The first Dishoom restaurant opened in 2010 in Covent Garden, London. In 2023, the brand opened its first spin-off concept, Permit Room.^[6] As of July 2025^[update], the company operates 11 Dishoom restaurants across the UK and four Permit Room bars in Oxford, Cambridge, Brighton and Notting Hill.^[7]

Cookbook

In 2019, Dishoom published a cookbook with recipes for many of their popular dishes and cocktails, while also taking the reader on a tour of south Bombay.^[8]

Awards

• Best hospitality company to work for in the UK by Glassdoor, 2023^[9]
• Best hospitality company to work for in the UK by Glassdoor, 2022^[10]
• Ranked #4, Times Best Places to Work For in the UK, 2021^[11]
• Ranked #12, Best Places to Work for in the UK, 2021^[12]
• Best Restaurant Scotland, British Curry Awards, 2021^[13]
• Employer of the year, R200 Restaurant Awards 2021^[14]
• Ranked #19, Sunday Times Top 100 Companies to work for, 2017^[15]
• Best Overall Operator – under 20 sites – Restaurant Magazine R200, 2017^[16]
• Most Admired Brand – CGA, Peach Heroes and Icon Awards, 2018^[17]
• Restaurateur of the Year (Group) – The Catey's, 2018^[18]
• Diversity in Business – Edinburgh Business Award, 2018^[19]
• Best Breakfast Destination – The Scottish Food Awards, 2017^[20]
• Best Small Group – Good Food Guide UK, 2017^[21]
• Best Restaurant in the UK – Yelp! reviewers 2015^[22] & 2016^[23]
• Best Casual Dining, British Curry Awards – winner, 2014 & 2016^[24]

Charity

For every meal Dishoom serves, it donates "a meal to a child who would otherwise go hungry". They work with the charities Akshaya Patra^[25] (India) and Magic Breakfast^[26] (UK), founded by Carmel McConnell. "Collectively, Magic Breakfast and Akshaya Patra serve 21.8 million children in England, Scotland and India." As of January 2025, Dishoom claims to have donated over 20 million meals.^[27]