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 - 2026-06-14Daily Mail
Tom Parker Bowles encountered “some of the most spectacular Indian food I’ve eaten in years” at the first London restaurant from Birmingham maestro Aktar Islam of Opheem fame, in an “elegantly rambling” Borough townhouse.
Every dish here is very different, “but united by the art of its spicing”. “Come hungry,” Tom advised. “You won’t want to waste a morsel.”
He worked his way through a vast split prawn lavished with a buttery, garlic-heavy sauce; a whole chicken leg, complete with claw, drowned in a magnificently creamy cardamon and saffron sauce; goat curry of “astonishing depth”, and dal Bukhara with “torrents of cream and butter”. “The crowning glory of this most astonishing lunch” was mutanjam dum biriyani – a mound of gloriously seasoned rice studded with carrots and topped with wobbling chunks of oxtail.
Tom Parker Bowles - 2026-07-12The Times
Giles Coren was “thrilled to bits” by the London debut of a chef whose flagship in Birmingham, Opheem, is a leading contender for Britain’s best Indian restaurant. “Aktar Islam is in London at last,” he proclaimed, “and we are blessed to have him. He is a hot, hot chef.”
Giles admitted he did not recognise the names of the dishes or their ingredients, and did not have the patience on a very hot day to listen to the waiter’s explanations – but “not a mouthful missed its mark”.
Among the dishes he could identify were a “magnificent” king prawn marinated with garlic and grilled over charcoal; a “superb biryani with gelatinous oxtail chunks shuddering in the rice”; and lamb brains which were “deliciously light, scrambled into a rich masala which we slapped over hot, blistered paratha. A dish worth making the detour for and a long, long way from the rare, pink, slightly bloody encephala they’ll serve you in France with a sauce ravigote.”
Giles Coren - 2026-07-26The Times
Jay Rayner hailed the London debut of Birmingham-based chef Aktar Islam as “some of the best Indian food” in the capital, with dishes inspired by the royal court cuisine of Lucknow that are “lofty with the waft of saffron and assertive with spice. They are a masterclass in ghee-basted largesse.”
Set in an unobtrusive townhouse close to Borough Market, there is little sign of cheffy ego about “slickly run” and “serious” operation. For once, tableside speeches about how to navigate the menu are a genuine help, and for all the apparent delicacy of the cooking, Jay warned, a meal here is a major undertaking: “Skip breakfast if having lunch. Skip lunch if going for dinner.”
He worked his way through a “mighty papad selection [with] chutneys many and various”; a “tottering” plate of chaat; buttery, flaky parathas; a spice-marinated, tandoor-roasted king prawn “the length of a baby’s forearm”; a roasted monkfish tail “in a rust-coloured butter and tomato-rich gravy of unending depth”; and a slow-cooked beef cheek nihari “with added unctuousness from beads of bone marrow”. After all that, the “sweet burst” of a kulfi soft serve with saffron and mango meringue was welcome.
Jay Rayner - 2026-08-02
