Permit Room Portobello is Dishoom’s all day bar-café on the ground floor of 186 Portobello Road. Curved around a Notting Hill corner and filled with art, it moves from breakfast and coffee to shared plates, cocktails and resident DJ evenings.
Breakfast includes Dishoom favourites and Permit Room dishes such as Eggs Kejriwal and French toast. From midday, the menu travels through Bombay with crisp savouries, salads, grills and comforting ruby curries designed to share or enjoy individually.
Onion bhajia, aloo tikki chole, samosas and fried chicken provide a varied table of smaller plates, while garlic pepper prawns and tandoor baked naan bites suit the bar-café format. Vegan, vegetarian and halal friendly choices are clearly part of the offering.
Highballs, short cocktails, alcohol free mixes, chai, coffee and local beer give the drinks list equal importance. A terrace, late opening and regular vinyl sets create a lively evening mood, while reservations, walk-in tables and step-free access keep the venue approachable throughout the day.
Address: Ground Floor, 186 Portobello Road, London W11 1LA, England
Dishoom Permit Room Portobello Menu
Kids Breakfast
Served until 11.45am every day.
Porridge
With oat milk and bananas. Cheeky monkey.
Granola
Juicy fruit, nutty crunch and creamy yoghurt. Choose from vanilla dairy yoghurt and honey, or coconut yoghurt.
Fruit & Yoghurt
Fresh fruit and cool yoghurt. Choose from vanilla dairy yoghurt and honey, or coconut yoghurt.
Eggs & Beans With Toast
Scrambled eggs, best beans, toasted bread and a side of tomato sauce.
Kids Savouries
Served from 11.45am every day. All dishes come with Tenderstem Broccoli, Raita, and your choice of Pulao Rice or Sweet Potato.
Malai Chicken
Grilled chicken thigh. Mild, not wild.
Crispy Prawns
A splash of lime, a speck of spice. Dunk right in Raita.
Paneer Fingers
Soft grilled paneer with a little garlic and ginger. For picky fingers.
Sweet Things
Served from 12pm every day. (V) Suitable for vegetarians. Dishes marked (V) may contain eggs.
Chocolate Brownie With Malai
Warm square of dark fudgy pleasure covered with cool milky malai. Jaggery sprinkles and soft chilli tingles. Blows hot and cold.
Coconut Caramel Custard
Parsi Parisian pud of egg custard, set to wobble, caramelised with jaggery, and a sprinkle of brittle hammer-smashed coconut chikki.
Rum-Soaked Gulab Jamun
A warm dark ball with pistachio pieces and inner creaminess. This modest milk-based dumpling requires a permit, as it’s soaked in Old Monk rum.
Ice-Cream Sandwich
An ice cream slab is wedged between two wafers, which might take you back to K. Rustom & Company (Bombay). Mango Dream: vanilla and rippling mango. Rose Ripple: rose syrup and vanilla. Tutti Frutti: with pieces of dried papaya. Chocolate & Butterscotch: explains itself.
Snackery
Masala Nuts
The first thing you order in a Permit Room. Peanuts, cashews, coconut and curry leaves roasted in a chilli and mustard seed masala.
Chilli Cheesy Garlic Naan Bites
Cheddar stuffed and green-chilli smacked, straight out the Tandoor. Every hot mouthful melts – your drink’s plus-one.
Salads
Chilli Broccoli Salad
So much greenery! Fresh broccoli, toasted pistachios, seeds of pumpkin and sunflower, shredded mint, chilli, and so on.
Kali Mirch Chicken Salad
Marinated morsels of black pepper chicken (like Murgh Malai) flung about in creamy yoghurt dressing with salad leaves, kale, red chilli and spiced wholesome seeds.
Small-ish
Crispy Spinach Chaat
Hard work to make this chaat, but a holiday to eat. Crispy-fried babyleaf spinach with yoghurt, chutneys, spices and fresh pomegranate. So light, so zesty, you’d eat twenty.
Aloo Tikki Chole
A roadside hottie. Crunchy smashed potato patties, dolled up with rich’n’spicy chickpeas, sweet yoghurt, lively green chutney, sweet-sour tamarind and crispy papdi. Warning: vendors will whistle.
Vegetable Samosas
Three crunchy short-crust (Punjabi style) pastry parcels of potato, onion, green pea, carrot, cinnamon and clove stuffing. God loves a triangle.
Lamb Samosas
Golden Gujarati filo (not Punjabi shortcrust) stuffed with minced lamb, onions and spices. Lime for tang.
Permit Room Fried Chicken
It’s in the name. Crisp golden bites tossed in podi masala. Dunk in spicy chilli chutney. Smack lips.
Onion Bhajia
Onions: sliced, spiced and crisped in airiest gram batter. Fresh green chutney. Inhale!
Garlic Pepper Prawns
Indo-Chinese bar snack. Crispy-fried prawns. Sticky soy-oyster sauce, serious black pepper, garlic and chilli. Lift with lime.
Biryani & Pulao
Chicken Berry Britannia
Full-on tasty pot of chicken, ginger, garlic, mint, coriander and rice cooked together in the Kacchi biryani style. Think Britannia’s Chicken Berry Pulao, with cranberries.
Jackfruit Berry Pulao
Luscious jackfruit – unexpected – with onion, tomato, jaggery and whole spices, under a heap of saffron pulao rice studded with barberries and sultanas. Could be a group thing.
Lamb Biryani
Pop off the lid and spoon into buttery saffron rice rich with spice. Dig deep. Find fall-apart leg of lamb and caramelised onions. Ask for raita – it’s nice.
Grills
Mixed Grill
Here come the grills. Eight chicken wings, a half chicken tandoori, three lamb kababs, two lamb chops. Green chutney, pickled onions, kachumber. Life’s for sharing.
Half / Whole Chicken Tandoori
Something special is going on here: marinated spatchcock is not coloured red. It is grilled and served with fresh kachumber, tangy green chutney and charred lemon to squeeze.
Zingy Hot Wings
Eight wings, sticky and blackened. Buttery tamarind-honey marinade, sparked with chilli. Dip in red chutney. Lick your fingers.
Charred Lamb Chops
A trio of juicy chops, charred hard after an all-nighter in raw papaya, ginger, cumin, carrom and black pepper. Top with punchy Kashmiri chilli sauce – get messy.
Lamb Tawa Kababs
Textural sorcery! Punjabi-spiced, silly-soft, tawa-seared lamb keema patties. Fresh green chutney and kachumber on the side.
Dishes on the Side
Dishoom Black Daal
Rich, dark, deep, the answer to all questions. Cooked over 24 hours for extra harmony.
Charred Sweet Potato
Shakarkandi is mellow yellow Indian sweet potato grilled and dashed with tangy chilli-lime masala, just as the street-vendor would make it.
Tenderstem Broccoli
The Hindi name is hari phool gobhi (green flower cauli), here steamed and grilled, then tumbled with chilli and lime. Fools, and angels, rush in.
Raita
Minty yoghurt, cool as a cucumber. Always on standby.
Bread & Rice
Vegan naans cooked in the same tandoor as naans made with eggs and dairy.
Plain Naan
Garlic Naan
Cheese Naan
Steamed Basmati Rice
Ruby Murray
Prawn Moilee
Very peaceful curry of coconut milk, golden with turmeric, curry leaves, fresh ginger, garlic and spices. A South Indian recipe with juicy prawns (or vegan with cauliflower).
Dishoom Chicken Ruby
Tender chicken in a rich-and-silky makhani sauce. A good and proper curry full of spice and flavour.
Chole
Chickpeas bob to saucy beats. Roasted cumin, black tea and dried mango cut loose over waves of heat. Hearty for your party.
Lamb Chettinad
Fall-apart lamb in seductive South-Indian coconut sauce. Spiced with ‘black gold’ (aka pepper), chilli, earthy stone flower and curry leaf. Made for spooning.
Dishoom Mattar Paneer
Perky peas, pillowy paneer in a delicious tomato gravy. Simple comfort.
Cooked Breakfasts
Served until 11.45am every day.
The Full Permit
A fry-up. Nicely-spiced akuri with smoky-streaky Ramsay’s bacon, Shropshire pork sausages, masala beans, grilled field mushrooms and home-made buttered buns for mopping.
Chicken Keema Pau
Spiced minced chicken topped with a fried egg for yolky-richness. Mop it up with freshly baked plump pau.
Akuri Pau
Three eggs, scrambled creamy-slowly with tomato, onion and peppy green chilli. Served with buttered pau. All the Bombay breakfast feels.
Crumpety Eggs Kejriwal
Dishoom breakfast-star swaps toast for bouncier bottoms. Two fried eggs on mustardy buttered, chilli-cheese crumpets. With a crisp smoky couple of Ramsay’s bacon rashers (or vegetarian without).
Permit Room French Toast
Gold medal of breakfasts. Cinnamon spiced eggy brioche with a little soft pillowy cheese. Hot-chilli honey for heat. Fresh berries for tang. Crisp-smoky rashers of Ramsay of Carluke’s streaky bacon for all (or vegetarian without).
Fruits, Grains & Breads
House Granola
Handmade with toasted oats, seeds, cashews, almonds, pistachios and cinnamon. Served with fresh seasonal fruits and dairy vanilla yoghurt with starflower honey, or creamy coconut yoghurt.
Fruits & Yoghurt
Fresh seasonal fruits topped with creamy yoghurt infused with fresh vanilla pod. Choose from dairy yoghurt drizzled with starflower honey, or coconut yoghurt.
Date & Banana Porridge
Organic porridge oats cooked with oat milk, banana and sweet Medjool dates. If you want more, ask. This is a bottomless portion.
Bun Maska Chai
The Irani café classic. Soft bun with butter inside, to be dunked in the hot chai. The simplest thing, eaten everywhere in Bombay.
Naan Rolls
Each naan is freshly baked — by hand, and to order — in the tandoor. It is then spread with cream cheese, tomato-chilli jam and fresh coriander leaves, and wrapped around a first-rate filling. (Request a little chopped green chilli on the side for more zing.)
Bacon Naan Roll
Ramsay of Carluke’s smoked streaky bacon is matured in the traditional Ayrshire way and then smoked over applewood and beechwood chips. Dishoom’s cult dish is deserving of all its accolades.
Double Bacon Naan Roll
Twice the bacon. More power to you.
Bacon & Egg Naan Roll
Sausage Naan Roll
Shropshire pork sausages, warmly spiced with cracked black pepper. Each sausage is finished by hand.
Sausage & Egg Naan Roll
New Veg. Sausage & Egg Naan Roll*
Cleverly fermented, crispy-smashed veggie sausage with runny-yolked fried eggs. Umami loaded. A real piece of work with Neil Rankin. Go vegan – ask your server. *cooked in the same tandoor as naans made with eggs and dairy
Egg Naan Roll
Two fried Cornish free-range eggs with saffron-orange, runny yolks. Warm and most gratifying.
Wrestler's Naan Roll
Named for Koolar & Co.’s wrestler-sized portions. Smoked streaky bacon, peppery pork sausages and runny-yolked egg. Grapple with it.
Side Orders
Masala Beans
Grilled Mushrooms
Twisted Classics
Made from scratch. Pressed, infused, reduced, clarified, fat-washed and fizzed over hours (and days) by our crafty daru-walle. Perfect sips. Bottled for your judicious lips and poured at the bar.
Orange Wine Margarita
A risky drink, as it’s obscenely good for your health. Orange wine and its syrup, almond bitters for nutty depth, a touch of citrus and Cazcabel Tequila Reposado. The classic margarita can retire.
Mangosteen Daiquiri
Takamaka Seychelles Rum Blanc, mangosteen, fruit syrup and chamomile get mixed up. Let the nice person spray your pony with lime oil.
Permit Room Clover Club
Don’t be fooled by the pretty pink, or the coconut-cardamom foam — there’s strength inside this velvet glove. House raspberry-and-lychee liqueur, Beefeater Dry gin and a dash of lemon oil. You will feel historical.
Chai Caffè Martini
No sleeping on this pillow. Sip rich coffee, chai spices and banana-infused La Hechicera rum through a silky cushion of crema. Nibble on the bit of banana.
Highballs
Glinting bottles, endlessly rising tiny bubbles. Pour like light on ice.
Blushing Dawn Paloma
Kumquat super-juice, chilli-infused El Jimador Tequila Blanco, spice, pink salt, lime-oil sugar and a hint of The Lost Explorer Espadín mezcal. Smoky but no coughing.
Beyond the Pale Daylight
Worth getting out of bed at any time for this tropical custard-apple sherry and Indian tonic. Low alcohol (3.8%), if you care.
Golden Gloaming Fizzer
Soda of orange bitters with cordial from pressed mandarin juice and a fresh segment to eat. Not to mention the lingering Redbreast 12-Year-Old Irish whiskey.
Frozen Lipsters
Spicy Guava Frosé
A tumbler of rosé ice-crush with guava fruit, and candied red chilli to play hot-and-cold.
Kiwi Colada Shimmy
Let this icy pineapple-coconut classic – laced with Takamaka Seychelles Rum Blanc, kiwi, lemongrass and ginger – shimmy down your drainpipe.
On the Rocks
Mango Lassi Punch
Old Monk rum (a Bombay favourite) with yoghurt and spicy mango syrup. In some legend there’s a handsome monk in the forest…
Summerhouse Negroni
A boozy break to Northern India’s hilltop apples. Beefeater Dry gin, Campari, sweet vermouth with dashes of Manzanilla dry sherry, apricot liqueur and Calvados.
New Permit Room Old-Fashioned
A newly-fashioned old hat. Coconut-washed Woodford Reserve bourbon, Pedro Ximénez sherry and Medjool-date liqueur. “High-class Bombay in a glass” – so they say.
Short & Boozy
Pony glass or two sips.
Feni Martini
A nod to old, dangerous Indian moonshine. A green olive rests in a cloudy-cold mix of Fords London Dry gin, Axia Extra Dry Mastiha spirit and cashew eau de vie. Is it love? It is strong, balanced, pure.
Thums Up Sazerac
Ice-cold, old-school classic of Woodford Reserve rye whiskey, H by Hine VSOP cognac, Peychaud’s bitters and absinthe, sweetened with a reduction of Thums Up (Indian big-name cola rebel).
Aunty's Anjeer Manhattan
Fig liqueur, Woodford Reserve bourbon, sweet vermouth and bitters. Medicinal aroma (for your health).
Teetotal
No hafta.
Sober Summer Negroni
Green apple and apricot, no-alcohol gin, no-alcohol vermouth, no-alcohol bitter. Dishoom hand-made them all, singing no, no, no.
Pink Pepper Pineapple Soda
Foam-capped sparkling green Darjeeling with gentle pineapple cordial and pink peppercorn tincture. Tingles on your tongue. Abstemious and glorious.
No-Hafta Kiwi Colada
Frozen pineapple-coconut classic — with kiwi, lemongrass and ginger. Plenty of shimmy, but no rummy.
Lychee French '75
Juices of lemon and cabernet grape, with no-alcohol gin and lychee sparkling wine — all 100% prohibition-friendly. (No permit required.)
Beer & Cider
Ask your server for special collab pours and guest bottles & cans from talented local and independent brewers.
Permit Room X Kingfisher Beer Tower
Three tall litres of India’s top golden goodness. On tap, chilled, at your table. Pour a few crisp ones and get your party’s party started. 4.5% (3L)
Kingfisher
Staple of Indian drinking holes. Mild, malty and easy to drink. Neck it from a cold glass and pretend you’re respectable. 4.5% (PINT)
Dishoom IPA
Seriously good IPA with citrus notes, specially crafted for Dishoom by Mondo Brewing Company. Good egg makes good beer. 5.0% (TWO-THIRDS PINT)
Umbrella Rhubarb Cider
Slips down easy and makes life rosy. Dry and refreshing, with dessert apples and sharp-tart rhubarb from a Herefordshire farm. 3.4% (TWO-THIRDS PINT)
Cold Drinks
Mango Lassi
First-class yoghurt drink with the sweetness of mango.
Salted Lassi
Crushed cumin and salt gently flavour this creamy yoghurt drink.
CBD Bhang Lassi
The Holi drink. Ours is with ginger, shredded mint, hints of spice and happy dashes of CBD botanical bitters instead of the traditional half oz. from a good dealer.