There is no better excuse for a long, lavish dinner than Diwali. The Festival of Lights falls on Sunday 8 November this year. It celebrates light over darkness and new beginnings, and above all it means gathering the people you love around a table heaving with food. Think sweets passed hand to hand, biryanis lifted from sealed pots and mithai boxes tied with ribbon. It is joyful, generous and very delicious.
London, happily, has never taken it more seriously. Across the city, the best Indian kitchens have written menus just for the festival. Some are Michelin-starred tasting menus fit for a maharaja. Others are sharing feasts made for big, noisy family tables. The trouble is that many run for less than a week, the best tables go fast, and choosing between a grand Mayfair dining room and a beloved neighbourhood favourite is harder than it sounds.
So we’ve done the legwork (it’s a tough job, etc.). Below are the eight Diwali menus in London we’d actually book this year, at every budget and in every postcode, each with a reason to go. Loosen your belt and pick your table.
Diwali in London at a glance
Best for a historic setting: The Cinnamon Club
Best for a Michelin-starred blowout: Jamavar
Best for pure indulgence: Trishna
Best for London’s newest opening: Trèsind Mayfair
Best for St James’s glamour: Chutney Mary
Best for home-style cooking: Romy Gill at The Pem
Best for a big group feast: Brigadiers
Best for celebrating on Diwali itself: Babur
The best restaurants to celebrate Diwali in London
The Cinnamon Club, Westminster (and The Cinnamon Collection across London)
Best for: Feasting in a Grade II-listed library
Price per head: From £39 (Cinnamon Bazaar) to £65 (The Cinnamon Club)
Address: The Old Westminster Library, 30-32 Great Smith Street, SW1P 3BU
Why we love it: If one name has shaped modern Indian fine dining in London, it’s Vivek Singh. This year his Diwali celebrations are the most generous in town. The menus run across four of his London restaurants from 19 October to 14 November, so you can keep celebrating well after the big day. That’s useful if your family calendar is as packed as ours.
The jewel is The Cinnamon Club, a few steps from Westminster Abbey in the Grade II-listed former Westminster Library. It still has its wood panelling and book-lined galleries, and few rooms in London feel this grand, or this suited to a festival of light. The five-course Diwali menu (£65) opens the traditional way, with a welcome of mithai and canapés. Next comes chargrilled partridge breast with mushroom pickle and spiced pear chutney, an inspired seasonal pairing. Then the showstopper: a Lucknowi lamb shank biryani with aubergine salan and burhani raita, the kind of dish you’ll still be thinking about on the bus home. Saffron and pistachio kulfi brings it to a close. Delectable.
Bringing a crowd? The sister restaurants are made for it, and very good value. At Cinnamon Bazaar in Covent Garden, under a ceiling of colourful canopies inspired by India’s markets, an eight-dish sharing feast costs £39pp (minimum two). Expect tandoori chicken thighs, shrimp malai curry with coconut and cardamom, and spiced lamb mince with spinach and fenugreek leaf, finished with an almond and rose kulfi. Cinnamon Kitchen Battersea sits under the railway arches near Battersea Power Station. Its eight-course celebration feast (£45pp, minimum two) starts with Bengali spiced fish cakes and tandoori paneer, then moves on to baked bream fillet with tomato and tamarind sauce. The lemon and ginger gulab jamun brûlée is worth the trip alone. In the City, Cinnamon Kitchen on Devonshire Square, a short walk from Liverpool Street, serves nine dishes for £48pp (minimum two). Among them are lamb seekh kebab roomali, tuna bhel tostada, Kasturi chicken chop with Kashmiri chilli and king prawn malai curry, before a mithai cheesecake layered with Diwali sweets, almond and pistachio. Don’t miss it.
Jamavar, Mayfair
Best for: A Michelin-starred royal banquet
Price per head: £138
Address: 8 Mount Street, W1K 3NF
Why we love it: Jamavar takes its name from the finely woven Kashmiri shawl, and its Mount Street dining room has the same quiet opulence, all dark wood, brass and soft lighting. It turns ten this year and is marking the moment with A Royal Diwali Darbar. Culinary Director Surender Mohan modelled the menu on the festival banquets of India’s princely courts, where celebrations meant long shared tables and lavish hospitality. Very fitting for Mayfair.
It opens with the Jamavar Jewel Box, a treasure chest of mirchi pakora, masala kaju, mathri, papads and chutneys, the sort of nibbles you’ll fight over. Next comes Nazakat ke Bhalle, a layered chaat of urad dal dumplings, yoghurt, tamarind and mint that is soft, sharp and cooling all at once. Dill malai jhinga and bhatti ka murgh keep things going before the main event: a choice between achari gosht made with Hampshire lamb and the Old Delhi butter chicken. We know which way we’re leaning. Shahi kala jamun rounds off the feast. It’s served at lunch and dinner from 28 October to 8 November, by reservation only. Come on, it’s Jamavar!
Trishna, Marylebone
Best for: Pure indulgence
Price per head: £120 (vegetarian £110)
Address: 15-17 Blandford Street, W1U 3DG
Why we love it: Tucked into a quiet corner of Marylebone Village, Trishna has long been one of London’s most loved Indian restaurants. It’s the London sibling of the celebrated Mumbai original, with a Michelin star to prove the pedigree. For Diwali it has gone all out. Executive chef Sajeev Nair’s five-course Taste of Trishna menu runs from 2 to 8 November and is unapologetically luxurious.
Picture seafood paniyaram, the little South Indian dumplings, topped with oscietra caviar. Then amrut grouse, a nod to the season, and a half lemon lobster tail. The dessert is where Trishna really shows off: gulab jamun tiramisu, which we’ll say outright is the best dessert idea of the year. The room is calm, pared back and elegant, so the food takes centre stage. There’s a full vegetarian menu, and private dining rooms if you’re bringing the extended family. Hear, hear.
Trèsind Mayfair, Mayfair
Best for: London’s newest Diwali debut
Price per head: £115
Address: 13-14 Hanover Street, W1S 1YH
Why we love it: Trèsind made its name in Dubai with playful, theatrical modern Indian cooking. It opened on Hanover Street this summer, so this is its very first Diwali in London, and executive chef Amit Bagyal is clearly out to impress. His tasting menu is built around comfort, nostalgia and the warmth of the festival, then dressed up for Mayfair.
You might start with tandoori tiger prawns and a clever mushroom “chai”, followed by a Goan lamb vindaloo and sea bass in a fragrant, coconut-rich kiri hodi. The highlight, though, is a reimagined jalebi chaat that turns one of India’s best-loved festive sweets into something savoury and surprising. It is very Trèsind, and very good. To finish, ghewar with rose and cardamom ice cream. It’s served at lunch and dinner from 3 to 7 November only, so be quick.
Chutney Mary, St James’s
Best for: Quiet St James’s glamour
Price per head: £65
Address: 73 St James’s Street, SW1A 1PH
Why we love it: Some restaurants are made for dressing up, and Chutney Mary is one of them. It has been a fixture of London’s Indian dining scene for more than three decades, and its St James’s home is all jewel-toned walls, sparkling chandeliers and staff who make you feel like a regular on your first visit. It’s exactly the setting for an elegant Diwali night out.
The three-course festive menu opens with Ghevar Chaat, a savoury version of the famous Rajasthani sweet that we can’t stop thinking about. Next is a selection of regional curries, vegetarian or not, served in a silver crescent (yes, really). The meal ends with a Diwali Mithai Tart of angoori gulab jamun, raspberry jalebi and chocolate doda barfi. If you’d rather go off-menu, look out for the autumn specials: Bengal lamb kosha mangsho and a robust venison rogan josh. It’s served in the evenings from 30 October to 8 November. Don’t leave without ordering one of the mithai platters to take home. Your host will thank you.
Romy Gill at The Pem, Westminster
Best for: A Diwali that tastes like home
Price per head: £65
Address: 22-28 Broadway, SW1H 0BH
Why we love it: Chef, author and broadcaster Romy Gill MBE has been one of Britain’s best-loved voices on Indian food for years. In September she took over the kitchen at The Pem, inside the Conrad London St James. For the restaurant’s first Diwali she’s doing something lovely: cooking the dishes from her own family’s festive table, with twists picked up on her travels across India.
The four-course menu reads like an invitation to her home. It starts with crisp aloo tikki and twice-marinated charred lamb chops with mint chutney. A Punjabi dhaba-style murgh curry follows, alongside kaddu, a sweet-sour spiced pumpkin. To finish, spiced moong dal halwa with saffron ice cream, which is pure comfort. It’s personal, warm and very good value for SW1. You’ll find it from 3 to 7 November.
Brigadiers, The City
Best for: A big group feast
Price per head: £105
Address: 1-5 Bloomberg Arcade, EC4N 8AR
Why we love it: If your idea of Diwali involves plenty of food arriving all at once, head to the City. Brigadiers takes its cue from the mess halls of the Indian army, and it does barbecue with real swagger, all fire, smoke and big flavours. Its Diwali feast runs from 5 to 14 November, which makes it one of the most forgiving options for anyone juggling a busy diary.
Starters set the tone: Dorset crab samosas, Konkani scallops with crispy chorizo and the restaurant’s original BBQ butter chicken wings (order extra, trust us). Then come the heavy hitters: venison shank korma, cod kalimirch tikka and a dum guinea fowl biryani sealed and slow-cooked in the pot. Choose between saffron kulfi and kala jamun brûlée for dessert, or do the sensible thing and order both for the table. There’s a vegetarian version too, and private dining rooms for larger celebrations.
Babur, Forest Hill
Best for: Celebrating on Diwali itself
Price per head: £64.95 (£74.95 for the Diwali party)
Address: 119 Brockley Rise, SE23 1JP
Why we love it: You’ll spot Babur by the tiger leaping off its roof. It has been a south-east London institution since 1985, and more than 40 years on it’s still one of the most inventive Indian kitchens in the capital. Head chef Jiwan Lal’s five-course Diwali tasting menu, served from 6 to 8 November, puts a modern spin on festive classics.
Look out for Delhi-style ram laddu chaat, the crisp lentil fritters sold on Old Delhi’s street corners, followed by Malvani fish tikka and chicken anarkali. The finale is sweet khoya gujiya, the half-moon pastries made in homes across India at Diwali, served with saffron yoghurt ice cream. The best time to go is Sunday 8 November, Diwali itself, when Babur throws a candlelit party with live Bollywood dance performances all evening (£74.95, including the tasting menu). It’s worth the trip south. No, really.
