Dishoom Permit Room Brighton — Restaurant in England

Always wanted to try Dishoom but never had the chance so we tried it's Permit Room instead. We had made a booking but were already hungry so tried our luck and we're able to get a table. Success or so we thought, as they seated us in the terrace which honestly looked like a repurposed store room and the tables had dust bunnies and needed a wipe. We were lucky we were one of the first to walk in there as we had our pick of the tables because that area looked grim which kind of took away from the so called Dishoom experience as we were too far away from the servers and I had to flag them down more than once to get our orders as well as to follow up because I had ordered two desserts ( the amazing gulab jamun in rum) but the ice cream sandwich may have tasted lackluster because it came at least 10 minutes after and wasn't that good. I expected the desserts to come at the same time I suppose.

However food saved the day, from the kiwi colada and cafe Martini and guava Beer (all amaaaaazing drinks!) and the food oh the food, blew our minds as we enjoyed each dish from the chicken pick me ups to the prawns and the masala devilled eggs, chicken berry biryani is so recommended and the cheese naans so wow.

The toilets are an adventure tho as if you're sat in the terrace it's two stairs down

Payment was via QR code which had an automatic 12.5% discretionary charge right. I assumed discretion meant we could at least have the option to change th amount in case we didn't find the service to our usual standard and honestly the staff were nice (when we could find them and didn't have to be called over and over), and we would have not removed if but we didn't even have that option as the amount we have to pay is fixed and the discretionary charge was already included and couldn't be removed.

I suppose I just needed to warn Dishoom hunters like me to lower expectations when visiting their permit room if youre sat in the 'terrace' as the service was just not as special or given as much thought when they were hardly around as it was just so busy (on a Thursday night!) which shows the food is really the draw here if you're way in the terrace. Better experience I'm sure it you're sat in the main...

I celebrated my 30th birthday at the Dishoom Permit Room in Brighton and it honestly couldn’t have been more perfect.

From the moment I walked in, I was greeted with a warm smile and a thoughtful surprise which was a birthday card handed to me by the host. Such a simple gesture, but it really set the tone for what turned out to be a truly special evening.

We were looked after by Jack B, who was not only incredibly warm and friendly but also attentive without ever being overbearing. He made sure to check in with us regularly and gave us excellent recommendations throughout the night, including the bottle of Syrah that paired beautifully with our meal.

The food, served in Dishoom’s classic “as-it’s-ready” style, actually arrived in perfect flow and harmony especially impressive considering how busy the place was.

We started with Chakli as a crunchy little nibble, followed by lamb samosas that were rich and perfectly spiced. The Prawn Moilee was light, fragrant, and utterly delicious, and the Chicken Berry Britannia Biryani had the ideal balance of sweet, tart, and savory. The Matar Paneer and their iconic Black Daal were both standout vegetarian dishes, deeply comforting and full of flavor. Paired with garlic naan, it was hard to stop eating even when we were full! Portions were generous and the two of us genuinely struggled to finish everything.

To round it off, Jack suggested the coconut caramel custard, and I’m so glad he did. It was the perfect sweet kiss to end the evening ie light, silky, and indulgent.

This was my first visit to Brighton, and thanks to this meal (and Jack’s lovely chat about the city), I already know I want to come back if for nothing else, then to have that Black Daal again.

To sum it up: Dishoom Permit Room delivers not just on food, but on experience, hospitality, and warmth. Thank you to the team (and especially Jack) for making my milestone birthday feel so memorable.

PS. we ACTUALLY forgot to take pictures of our food, so I screenshotted a quick...

My friends and I ate at Dishoom Permit Room, Brighton, on Friday 31st Jan 25. Having eaten many times at Dishoom in London, we were looking forward to the experience. However, things didn't pan out as we anticipated; Table booked for 20.15, we arrived at 20.14 and joined a queue of 6 people all waiting to be booked in by a woman with a headpiece who was sole front-of-house staff. At 20.20, I asked what was happening and was told to wait - she appeared stressed and quite stroppy. At 20.24 a man came and dealt with the queue (which still had the same 6 people ahead of us) and were told our table wasn't ready and could we wait. We were finally taken to our table sometime after 20.30. We ordered and our food arrived: my friends enjoyed their Dishoom Chicken Ruby, but my Jackfruit Berry Pula was really dry and lacked flavour. All our naan were crispy, dry and crumbly. The veg samosas had good pastry but the filling lacked flavour. Apparently the lamb samosas were good. I wonder if more attention has been paid to the meat dishes. I eventually asked if there were any sauces (none had been offered) and it took a full 10 minutes for them to arrive despite asking 2 other staff if they were on the way. By which time we had basically finished our food. We ordered 2 deserts - the coconut caramel custard lacked coconut flavour, the ice cream chocolate and butterscotch sandwich had no wafers as they'd run out (when served they said they wouldn't charge for this) but sadly it lacked any chocolate flavour, and the butterscotch lacked flavour too. When our dinner plates were removed and we were asked how the meal went, I explained I didn't enjoy mine and there were issues with the naan bread. They kindly didn't charge for my dinner. A very disappointing experience overall, although the waiting and serving staff were very...