With less than two weeks to go of Bombay Bustle’s Ramadan menu, it’s the last opportunity to try this collaboration before it closes on the 18th of March. Eid will bring it to a natural end, so whether you’re breaking fast or simply after an intriguing and genuinely good meal, the window is closing.
The restaurant itself is placed just off of Regent Street, taking the quality of the area but hiding it down quieter pathways. Pastel carriages, colonial railway coach furniture, the whole aesthetic built around the idea of a perfectly delivered tiffin – it’s warming yet brings a sense of noise through family gathering, sharing dishes and the bustle that is its namesake.
The menu came about through a friendship between founder Samyukta Nair and fashionista Pernia Qureshi, who recently published a cookbook pulling from her grandmother’s kitchen in Rampur. The dishes are representative more of a family gathering than for a restaurant – which explains why they translate so well to a sharing table and Iftar.
Things open with fruit chaat, dates and rose sherbet – a nod to the tradition of breaking fast gently before the appetite properly arrives, before plates of kebabs take over. The Kathal Kebab, green jackfruit and Bengal gram, comes with a ginger and coriander chutney that you’ll lather on with plenty to spare. Mutton Seekh Kebab, minced lamb with caramelised onions, lasted just seconds.
Once the starters are devoured, an assortment of glorious dishes find their way to filling up the table and don’t seem to stop. The Kali Mirch is a creamy peppery sauce with perfectly moist chicken running through it. The Yakhni Pulao – an enormous rice dish folded through with lamb, roasted spices, and spiced yoghurt – each mouthful hitting with layer after layer of spices and meat that would cause any family to argue over the last portion. Dal Panchmel and an assortment of naans run alongside to mean that no hand is ever free.
Phirni ends it: a rice pudding dish lightly but distinctly flavoured with cardamom and pistachio, that takes floral beauty and passes it through something quite light and refreshing. Celebratory by design and easy to finish even when you thought you couldn’t eat more.
The dabbawala tradition exists around a simple idea – getting the right food to the right people at the right time. That’s exactly what this collaboration pulls off. Pernia Qureshi’s grandmother’s recipes, carried from a family kitchen in Rampur and delivered to a Mayfair table during the most important month in the Islamic calendar. The room, the food, the timing – it all lands. At £58 per person, book before the 18th.
