Join Harden's Platinum Club for Member's Benefits - save 60% with our special offer!
RestaurantsLondonKensington and ChelseaW11

Harden's says

Dishoom impresarios, Shamil and Kavi Thakrar are set to open the first London branch of their successful spin-off chain in Notting Hill's Portobello Road in Spring 2025. Known for its Indian cuisine, the new venue is expected to offer a variety of sharing plates and cocktails inspired by Bombay’s permit rooms (essentially drinking dens during 1940s Prohibition Indian style). The four storey Victorian property, formerly a gin distillery, will house this fourth branch in the formerly out-of-London chain and has taken about £2 million to get off the ground.

survey result

Summary

£67
  £££
* Based on a three course dinner, half a bottle of wine, coffee, cover charge, service and VAT.

Dishoom impresarios, Shamil and Kavi Thakrar opened the first London branch of their Dishoom-lite chain in the Portobello Road in May 2025 (after our survey had concluded). This Notting Hill newcomer follows successful debuts in Brighton, Cambridge and Oxford, offering an all-day, bar-café version of the Dishoom formula – from breakfast with sharing plates and cocktails – inspired by Bombay’s ‘permit rooms’ (essentially drinking dens during India’s 1940s Prohibition). The four-storey Victorian property, formerly a gin distillery, also marks the group’s first departure into accommodation (with a hotel on the top two floors).

For 34 years we've been curating reviews of the UK's most notable restaurant. In a typical year, diners submit over 50,000 reviews to create the most authoritative restaurant guide in the UK. Each year, the guide is re-written from scratch based on this survey (although for the 2021 edition, reviews are little changed from 2020 as no survey could run for that year).

Have you eaten at Permit Rooms?

186 Portobello Road, London, W11 1LA

What the Newspaper Critics are saying

The Daily Telegraph

William Sitwell has a new favourite Indian restaurant, the first London branch of Dishoom’s spin-off brand, which excels for “fabulous staff, serene bedrooms (they call them lodgings), a wonderful bar (epic negronis…)” and, best of all, a menu of colourful dishes “which are solidly mainstream Indian but just epic examples of them”.

A deep, dark lamb curry – tender and modestly spiced – was so moreish “I wanted lashings upon lashings of the glorious stuff. Even better was a bowl of black daal, stewed for 24 hours – a dish I’d like to eat at least once a week for the rest of my life (even if the amount of ghee in it would, I suspect, limit the rest of my life to mere weeks.”

William Sitwell - 2025-07-20

Prices

Starter Main Pudding
£4.90 £20.50 £7.90
Drinks  
Wine per bottle £35.50
Filter Coffee £3.90
Extras  
Bread £4.90
Service 12.50%
186 Portobello Road, London, W11 1LA
Opening hours
Monday8 am‑11 pm
Tuesday8 am‑11 pm
Wednesday8 am‑11 pm
Thursday8 am‑11 pm
Friday8 am‑12 am
Saturday9 am‑12 am
Sunday9 am‑11 pm

Best Indian restaurants nearby

Empire Empire
Indian restaurant in Notting Hill
£55
   ££
3
Good
3
Good
3
Good
Copper Chimney
Indian restaurant in Shepherd's Bush
£54
   ££
3
Good
3
Good
3
Good
Zaika of Kensington
Indian restaurant in Kensington
£84
 ££££
3
Good
4
Very Good
4
Very Good

View more nearby restaurants »

Restaurant news

View more ›

NEWS
Black and blue (truffle and lobster) at Gallic launch

NEWS
When 8 is lucky for dim sum

NEWS
Margate's dining boom sees two new openings