I absolutely love, nay, LOVE, Indian food. Dan doesn’t enjoy it nearly as much as I do but luckily for me, someone recommended Dishoom to Dan before our trip to Scotland (and London), so I had an excuse to reserve a table. In sum, and while Dishoom has been written about many, many, many times, our meal was fantastic and it is absolutely worth the hype.
Dishoom – the UK’s most famous Indian restaurant
Dishoom is a chain of 13 (currently) Indian restaurants in the United Kingdom. Founded in 2010, Dishoom is often described as “Indian street food” and was designed to feel like “an Irani cafe popular in Mumbai in the 1960s”. The founders left the business in 2017, but Dishoom is still incredibly popular and totally delicious. And, rumor has it that Dishoom is opening a location in New York in 2026…
Edinburgh’s Dishoom.
Reservations – not for dinner
Dishoom is famously a “no reservation” restaurant. However, you can make breakfast and lunch reservations and dinner reservations for large parties. I made a lunch reservation at Dishoom’s Edinburgh location on New Year’s Eve a few weeks in advance. We likely didn’t needed the reservation, but it was New Year’s Eve and you never know.
Edinburgh’s Dishoom
The Dishoom in Edinburgh is located in the new part of town just past Princes Street. The restaurant is an elegant multistory affair with loads of seating. Our table was on the second floor, and the restaurant was just changing from brunch to lunch.
The very cute interior of Edinburgh’s Dishoom.
Dishoom’s menu – lots of options
Dishoom has two distinct menus – brunch and lunch/dinner. This visit was for lunch. We found most of the dishes to be decent sized, and we split numerous dishes (keep reading).
The food menu at Edinburgh’s Dishoom.
Dishoom’s drinks – great cocktails
Dishoom has a full drink list, with everything from cocktails, wine and beer to bottled soda to coffee to Chai tea. Dan ordered the Chai tea but he later regretted it as it is unlimited at brunch but not at lunch. The rest of us tried a variety of cocktails.
Dishoom Edinburgh’s drink list.
Chai tea.
A Dishoom cocktail.
Our Dishoom food – absolutely delicious
Every lunch begins with a trio of complimentary sauces, which were just incredible.
A trio of spicy sauces.
We ordered lamb samosas, which were particularly good with the spicy sauces.
Lamb samosas.
The Chili Chicken was the best thing we ordered in my opinion. Garlic, soy and ginger flavored the chicken.
Chili Chicken.
I would not have ordered the Blackened Butterfield Prawns, but these were excellent.
Blackened Butterfield Prawns.
Almost equal to the Chili Chicken was the Chicken Ruby. This was incredible, especially with the Garlic Naan.
Chicken Ruby.
The Chicken Tikka was also quite good (but rather boring compared to our other dishes).
Dishoom Chicken Tikka.
We couldn’t have an Indian lunch with daal. We ordered the House Black Daal.
The House Black Daal.
Obviously, we ordered garlic naan. I am a huge fan of garlic naan!
Regular and garlic naan.
Close up of the garlic naan.
As you can probably tell, I thoroughly enjoyed my New Year’s Eve lunch at Dishoom! I will absolutely return to Dishoom in the future.
How can you recreate this Dishoom lunch for yourself?
Pick your Dishoom and go for lunch so that you can make a reservation (ensuring minimal wait time and not derailing your day). Also ensure that you are going when lunch is served (not brunch). The lunch and brunch menu are very different. One you are there, order several plates and share with your party. If you are not familiar with Indian food, the staff know the menu well and can help you order. Ask if you don’t like spicy things (as there are some on the menu).
STEAL OUR LUNCH
Dishoom Edinburgh: 3a St Andrew Square, Edinburgh. Open daily 8 AM – 11 PM, until 12 AM Thursday – Saturday. Casual. Reservations only accepted for lunch and large parties.