Dishoom Signs for NoMad Space to Launch First US Restaurant in New York

NEW YORK, June 1, 2026 — Dishoom, the London-based restaurant group whose Bombay-inspired Irani café concept has generated some of the most devoted queues in British dining for more than a decade, has signed for a space at 11 E. 26th St. in Manhattan's NoMad neighbourhood, marking the brand's first restaurant outside the United Kingdom. The confirmation of the NoMad address, reported by Crain's New York Business, ends years of anticipation that intensified sharply after the group's sold-out two-week breakfast pop-up at Pastis in August 2024 demonstrated New York's appetite for the concept. An opening timeline has not been officially announced, though the brand's chief executive has indicated a late 2026 target.

The debut represents Dishoom's first venture beyond the UK market since cousins Shamil and Kavi Thakrar founded the group in London's Covent Garden in 2010. Over 16 years the concept has grown to more than 10 locations across the United Kingdom, serving an estimated 100,000 diners per week and building a level of brand loyalty that few independent restaurant groups anywhere achieve.

Dishoom's New York Opening Arrives at 11 East 26th Street in NoMad

The 11 E. 26th St. address sits in NoMad the neighbourhood north of Madison Square Park that has become one of Manhattan's most active corridors for high-profile restaurant openings in recent years. The location places Dishoom within close proximity to Flatiron, Gramercy and the broader Midtown South dining cluster, giving it access to a dense mix of residential, office and visitor foot traffic.

The signing comes after a site search that Dishoom CEO Brian Trollip described publicly as deliberate and unhurried. "I was in New York last week looking at the site, and we're very much hoping to get an offer in pretty soon," Trollip told trade publication The Caterer in early 2025, months before the address was confirmed. The brand's measured approach to expansion Dishoom does not open restaurants quickly relative to its recognition level has been consistent throughout its growth in the UK, where each location was designed around a specific chapter of Bombay's cultural history rather than replicated from a standard template.

Dishoom Built Its Reputation on Bombay's Irani Café Culture

The Dishoom concept draws its identity from Bombay's Irani cafés the Persian-influenced tea houses that flourished in the city from the early 20th century through the 1960s before gradually disappearing as the urban economy changed. At their peak, these cafés served as democratic, accessible gathering places where workers, students and professionals sat side by side over chai, egg dishes and simple food. Dishoom's founders translated that spirit democratic hospitality, comforting food, layered storytelling through design and history into a modern restaurant format that has proven unusually durable in an industry where novelty typically drives the initial surge of attention.

Each Dishoom location in the UK is themed around a distinct period and character of Bombay's history. The original Covent Garden restaurant evokes the city's early Irani café era, while the Shoreditch, King's Cross and Edinburgh locations each carry their own historical reference points. The New York restaurant is expected to follow the same approach, presenting a version of Bombay's story that speaks to the city it occupies a framework that will require original research and design work rather than a direct lift from any existing UK location.

Bacon Naan Roll and Black Dal Lead the Menu New Yorkers Know Best

For New Yorkers, Dishoom's menu is not entirely unfamiliar. The August 2024 pop-up at Pastis running from August 19 to 30 gave the city its first in-person experience of the group's cooking, and the response was immediate. Lines formed daily outside the Meatpacking District bistro, with the pop-up selling out each morning and generating coverage and social media activity that far exceeded what a two-week temporary installation might ordinarily produce.

The Bacon Naan Roll a soft naan filled with streaky bacon, cream cheese, tomatoes and chilli became the dish most associated with the pop-up and has been central to Dishoom's identity since it appeared on the original Covent Garden menu. The House Black Dal, a lentil preparation slow-cooked for 24 hours and finished with butter and cream, is widely described as one of the most requested dishes on the UK menu. Gunpowder Potatoes, the Kejriwal (fried eggs on chilli toast), okra fries and vada pav are among the other signature preparations that regular visitors to Dishoom's UK restaurants would expect to find on the New York menu.

The full-day drinks programme, which Dishoom operates under the name The Permit Room in its UK locations, offers spiced chai made to house specification, mango lassi, fresh juices and a cocktail list drawing on Indian botanical ingredients. The chai served in the traditional manner, made with whole milk and brewed rather than steeped has become one of the most replicated and discussed elements of the Dishoom experience among its British following.

L Catterton Backing Positions Dishoom for Broader US Expansion

The New York opening arrives with significant financial support behind it. In 2025, Dishoom secured investment from L Catterton, the consumer-focused private equity firm backed by French luxury goods conglomerate LVMH. The transaction reportedly valued the restaurant group at close to $400 million and gives the brand the capital infrastructure to pursue international expansion at a pace it could not have managed as a self-funded independent group.

Trollip and the Thakrar cousins have been careful to frame the investment as enabling growth on Dishoom's own terms rather than accelerating it beyond what the brand's quality standards can sustain. "We only open another restaurant where we feel like we've got a story to tell," Trollip said in comments reported ahead of the New York announcement a position that signals the brand will not cascade into multi-unit US expansion before the first location has proven itself in the New York market.

Industry observers have noted that Dishoom's New York debut is part of a broader wave of London-based Indian restaurant concepts entering the US market. Ambassadors Clubhouse, the Punjabi restaurant from JKS Restaurants, opened in NoMad in late 2025. Kricket, known for modern Indian small plates, has also targeted Manhattan. The accumulation of high-end Indian restaurant concepts from London arriving in New York within a short window suggests a structural shift in how the category is perceived by both investors and diners rather than a coincidence of timing.

Dishoom has not announced reservations, menu details or an opening date for the New York location. Updates are expected through the brand's official channels at dishoom.com.

More information about Indian cuisine and its regional diversity can be explored through Indian cuisine history and traditions.

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