Dishoom is to open a first London branch of its “all day bar-café" spin-off Permit Room on Portobello Road on Notting Hill.
The Indian restaurant group famed for its Chicken Ruby signature dish and its round the block queues plans to launch the venue in Spring, the Standard has learned.
The company has applied to Kensington & Chelsea council for an alcohol licence and planning permission at 186 Portobello Road close to the Electric cinema.
If the company is granted consent the new venue will be the fourth Permit Room after sites in Brighton, Cambridge and Oxford.
The four storey Victorian property is described as “one of the most important corner sites on Portobello Road” was previously occupied by the Portobello Gin Distillery and included a basement distillery, blending rooms, history room and a “Ginstitute.”
Dishoom describes the sister brand as “a salute to Bombay’s permit rooms, beer bars and drinking holes.“ They sprang up in the Indian city in the Seventies after a loosening of prohibition laws.
Permit Rooms focus more on sharing plates and cocktails rather than full sit-down meals. But it also serves crowd pleasers such as half chicken tandooris and chef’s lamb curry, while cocktails include Mango Lassi Punch and Kiwi Colada Shimmy.
According to the licence application the Portobello Road venue’s opening hours will be 8am to 11pm seven days a week.
The planning application shows that planned external changes include installing a lantern above the front entrance doors and replacing the existing awnings. The total cost of the work on the conversion is estimated at “up to £2 million.”
A spokesperson for Dishoom said: “Dishoom is pleased to be opening its first-ever Permit Room in London, opening on Portobello Road in Notting Hill in Spring 2025, following successful openings in Brighton, Oxford and Cambridge. “
Dishoom’s founders, cousins Shamil and Kavi Thakrar opened their first site in Covent Garden in 2010 and have gone on to become one of London’s most successful restaurant brands.
It now has seven sites across London including at Shoreditch, Soho, Kensington High Street and King’s Cross. It also has branches in major cities including Manchester and Birmingham.
Latest accounts show Dishoom’s turnover surged past the £100 million mark for the first time in 2023.
