The Guardian
Grace Dent tipped the London debut from Birmingham-based chef Aktar Islam as “one of the restaurant openings of 2026”, serving 300-year-old Awadhi cooking from the royal courts of Lucknow in a “charmingly eccentric”, higgledy-piggledy listed townhouse near Borough Market.
A meal here is a “wholly gorgeous experience”, she says. “The food may be labour-intensive and styled with precision, but, thankfully, it’s still ruddy delicious and generously portioned. They aim to stuff you.”
Highlights included a slow-cooked dal Bukhara in which urad lentils, butter and cream “meet in spectacular decadence”, while the star of the show was mutanjan dam biryani: “a mountain of fragrant rice with melting, slow-cooked oxtail and bags of sweet carrot”.
Grace Dent - 2026-06-14
