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Breakfast, lunch, afternoon chai, dinner and late tipples.
Now delivering across London.
From kitchen to castle, your biryani awaits.
Discover something new from
Dum
Decadence, delivered. Surrey’s pre-orders are now live. From kitchen to castle, your biryani awaits.
are coming to your town or city across the kingdom At your service your Majesty. To find out more and join us please see schedule here.
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Breaking down barriers: a meal for a meal and knots of protection.
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Beaming through a tucked away corner of Brighton’s busy lanes, Permit Room is open and ready to welcome one and all. Not to be confused with the buzzy bars in our Dum cafés, this Permit Room is an outpost all of its own. Read on.
The Diary is more than a collection of stories — it is a journey into the heart of biryani. Here, we document not just recipes, but the legacies, rituals, and emotions that make biryani an enduring symbol of patience, craft, and celebration.
Each section of this diary opens a new door:
The Diary is both archive and adventure: a place to pause, reflect, and taste stories that stretch beyond borders. Every entry is an invitation — to discover, to savor, and to see biryani not only as a dish, but as a world in itself.
With each new café that we open, we write a story deeply rooted in Bombay history or culture. This story, known to us as the founding myth, informs all aspects of the restaurant’s design. We spend months researching the Bombay of the period and combing the city for the right furniture, both vintage and new. In a way, you walk across our thresholds into our stories.
The phone keeps ringing shrilly through the flat. Nauzer holds his head in his hands, palms clamped over his ears. “Beta, the phone!” He forgot his mother would still be here. He can’t have her answering in case it is Devia. He runs into the corridor to pick it up. It stops just before he can reach it. Breathless, he looks up and sees his mother in the kitchen.
Nauzer stands straight, squares his shoulders. For a moment, he is taken in by her smile. He can believe that this interview is the result of him focusing his energy, heart and mind on working hard, on helping his community; that his pursuit of profit is honourable; and his is a success story worth writing about.
Thursday 12th April – 1973, BOMBAY. It is almost light outside. It must be about six. He’s been awake half the night trying to figure out what to do. Lying on his bed, he stares through the rotating blades of the ceiling fan which only serve to stir the close warm air of his room. He needs to think – he’s running out of time. But his eyes feel salted and his head throbs.
Beaming through a tucked away corner of Brighton’s busy lanes, Permit Room is open and ready to welcome one and all. Not to be confused with the buzzy bars in our Dum cafés, this Permit Room is an outpost all of its own.
Thursday 12th April – 1973, BOMBAY
It is almost light outside. It must be about six. He’s been awake half the night trying to figure out what to do. Lying on his bed, he stares through the rotating blades of the ceiling fan which only serve to stir the close warm air of his room. He needs to think – he’s running out of time. But his eyes feel salted and his head throbs.
Be sure to have read our first installment here before delving into this second chapter.
Do read the first and second installments of Dishoom Canary Wharf’s founding myth before our finale.
WITH EACH NEW CAFÉ that we open, we write a story deeply rooted in Bombay history or culture. In Carnaby, the setting is Bombay’s rock scene, which flared up briefly in the 60s and 70s. In King’s Cross, the setting is a notional godown near Victoria Terminus, the struggle for Indian Independence the historical backdrop. Our story informs all aspects of the restaurant’s design. We spend months researching the Bombay of the period and combing the city for the right furniture, both vintage and new. In a way, you walk across our thresholds into our stories.