Dishoom Covent Garden

Dishoom Covent Garden was the first of the Dishoom cafés, opening in 2010 with a menu and setting inspired by the old Irani cafés of Bombay. Those cafés, opened by Persian immigrants in the early 20th century, were places where people from all walks of life shared chai, breakfast and conversation. Dishoom reinterprets that idea for London, and this branch is themed on 1940s and 1950s Bombay, its walls hung with photographs, portraits and film memorabilia from the era of early Indian talkies.

The menu runs from breakfast to late dinner. Mornings are known for the bacon naan roll, the akuri spiced scrambled eggs and the Big Bombay breakfast, while later in the day the menu turns to small plates, grills, biryanis and curries. Favourites include the house black daal, cooked slowly for many hours, gunpowder potatoes, pau bhaji and grilled meats and paneer. Vegetarians are well catered for. The drinks list covers house chai, lassis, coolers and cocktails such as the India Gimlet.

Dishoom suits groups of friends, families, solo diners and visitors wanting a lively, good-value meal in the West End. The atmosphere is busy and buzzing rather than quiet. It is mostly a walk-in café: groups of any size can book during the day, but after 18:00 only groups of six or more can reserve. Breakfast and lunch usually involve little or no wait, while evenings and weekends can bring queues of half an hour to an hour, with complimentary chai served to those waiting.

Opening hours are 08:00 to 23:00 Monday to Thursday, 08:00 to midnight on Fridays and Saturdays, and 09:00 to 23:00 on Sundays. Group bookings can be made online up to four months ahead, and larger parties can send an enquiry. Arriving for an early breakfast or a late lunch is the easiest way to avoid a queue.

The café is on Upper St. Martin's Lane, close to Seven Dials, with Covent Garden and Leicester Square Underground stations a few minutes' walk away. Buses stop nearby at Cambridge Circus and Leicester Square. The theatres of the West End, the shops of Seven Dials and Neal Street, and the Covent Garden Piazza are all close, making it an easy choice before or after a show.