Prepare for some serious feasting
Every autumn, Diwali (also known as the festival of lights) symbolises the triumph of goodness and light over evil and darkness, as celebrators illuminate darker evenings with lanterns and diyas and share warming feasts made up of a number of courses.
This year, the main event of the five-day celebration falls on Thurs 31st October but the Diwali 2024 celebrations are running across the end of October and the beginning of November. From outstanding limited-time menus to spectacular live performances, here’s how to get involved in Diwali in London this year.
Gymkhana
Gymkhana is marking Diwali this year with a special feasting menu (£180 per head, with a veggie option available at £170). The five-course menu will feature dishes like Amritsari pink shrimps & queenies with dill raita, kid goat methi keema with salli & pao, wild muntjac biryani with pomegranate & mint raita, and saffron pistachio kulfi falooda. You can choose to pair the meal with a curated selection of wines for an additional £105.
Mon 28th October – Sun 3rd November 2024
42 Albemarle St, London W1S 4JH
gymkhanalondon.com
Tandoor Chop House
Covent Garden’s Tandoor Chop House is putting on a Diwali feast for two nights, with the £50 per person menu featuring dishes like vegetarian seekh kebab with lemon caper yoghurt, Amritsari crispy lamb chop, tandoori duck breast, black dahl, Kashmiri chilli potato with dill aioli, and gulab juman with coconut ice cream, pistachio and dried rose petals. And to make it extra festive, the restaurant will be lit by candlelight.
Thurs 31st October & Fri 1st November 2024
8 Adelaide Street, London WC2N 4HZ
@tandoorchop
Trishna
Over at Trishna you can feast on a six-course menu for Diwali created by Executive Chef Sajeev Nair. Dishes include the likes of coconut & curry leaf scallops, mallard chutney seekh, tandoori lamb chops, and thandai semifreddo. There are veggie and vegan menus available too and the option to add on wine pairing for £90.
Mon 28th October – Sun 3rd November 2024
15-17 Blandford Street, London W1U 3DG
trishnalondon.com
Vegetarian Brown Girls
The Vegetarian Brown Girls are throwing their first ever Diwali party and they’re going big for the occasion. Expect Indian outfits, banging music, crisp chaat, samosa, chakri, dhokla, pav bhaji with buttery buns, prosecco and more.
Sat 26th October 2024
The Grange, Neasden Lane, London, NW10 1QB
@vegetarianbrowngirls
Brigadiers
Brigadiers are bringing out a Diwali feast of their classics designed to be shared with friends. Priced at £90 per head, the menu will include the likes of masala chicken skins, original BBQ butter chicken wings, sikandari kid goat shoulder with daal and pinenut & onion pilau, and gajjar halwa pie with walnut ice cream.
Fri 25th October – Sat 2nd November 2024
1 Bloomberg Arcade, London EC4N 8AR
brigadierslondon.com
Cinnamon Kitchen Battersea
Vivek Singh is teaming up with MasterChef semi-finalist, author and private chef Nisha Parmar for a spesh Diwali feast (at £120 per person) at Cinnamon Kitchen Battersea. The six-course dinner will follow the traditional path of Diwali celebrations from Namaste to fireworks, with dishes like chilli paneer dumplings and potato pave chaat, king prawn and seafood jol with string hoppers, dum lamb biryani, and ras malai tres leches with popping candy. There’ll also be a welcome drink and canapes alongside a performance from traditional garba dancers.
Thurs 24th October 2024
Battersea Power Station, 4 Arches Lane, London, SW11 8AB
cinnamon-kitchen.com
Greenwich Peninsula
On Sat 2nd November, Greenwich Peninsula is celebrating Diwali with a packed programme of free and ticketed events. You can watch traditional South Asian dance and musical performances, get some henna body art, learn about chai with a tea ceremony and have a go at making your own lantern, which you can then show off at the riverside lantern parade. Of course, there’ll also be plenty of food available from the likes of Blue Taj, Preeti’s Dumplings, YaayYaay and Urban Yak in Canteen Food Hall and Bar.
Sat 2nd November 2024
Greenwich Peninsula, London SE10
greenwichpeninsula.co.uk
InterContinental London Park Lane
The InterContinental London Park Lane’s Executive Chef Lalit Kumar is welcoming MasterChef: The Professionals semi-finalist Arbinder Singh Dugal into the kitchen for a celebratory Diwali dinner. The five-course menu (at £95 per person) features elevated takes on festival dishes like masala dahi panna cotta with bhalla dressed chutney and potato idiyappam; Kashmiri chilli rump of lamb with black garlic chutney, mint espuma, shiitake yakhni and morel & saffron pulao; and aamras and churan sorbet with muhwas dust.
Thurs 24th October 2024
One Hamilton Place, Park Lane, London, W1J 7QY
parklane.intercontinental.com
Babur
South London institution Babur is throwing a Diwali party on 30th October, where the restaurant will be decked out in candlelight, Bollywood Vibes will be performing and the kitchen will be serving a five-course tasting menu, including aloo tikki chaat, kandhari chicken tikka, lamb bhuna, malai kofta, and rasmalai milk cake. And if you can’t make the actual party, the Diwali menu will be running for the week.
Tues 29th October – Sun 3rd November 2024
119 Brockley Rise, London, SE23 1JP
babur.info
Fatt Pundit
For Diwali this year, Indo-Chinese restaurant Fatt Pundit is putting on a spesh Firecracker menu, featuring five brand new dishes. For four days at both the Soho and Covent Garden sites, you’ll be able to try the likes of smoked wok cod fritters, Szechuan chicken lollipops, Kashmiri chilly paneer, and burnt garlic rice, alongside a passion fruit, red pepper, mustard seed and edible gold Firecracker cocktail.
Thurs 30th October – Sun 2nd November 2024
Soho and Covent Garden
fattpundit.co.uk
Kanishka
Atul Kochhar is celebrating Diwali at Kanishka with a seven-course tasting menu at £105 per person. Blending British ingredients with Indian flavours, the menu includes dishes like Cromer crab fritter with chickpea sundal and tomato chutney; scallops with chicken jus and crispy chicken skin; chicken tikka pie with berry chutney; and cardamom chai creme brûlée.
17-19 Maddox Street, London W1S 2QH
kanishkarestaurant.co.uk
Bombay Bustle
Bombay Bustle Restaurateur Samyukta Nair and Executive Chef Surender Mohan have teamed up with food writer and chef Maunika Gowardhan for a Thali Diwali menu to celebrate the festival of lights. The thali will feature dishes from Surender and from Maunika’s book Thali: A Joyful Celebration of Indian Home Cooking, including kadai paneer, malabar lamb curry, and mawa mawe ki kheer. There’ll also be a Diwali bazaar at the restaurant, filled with trinket dishes, ceramic diyas, embroidered pouches and Diwali sweets for guests to buy as presents.
Weds 23rd October – Sun 3rd November 2024
29 Maddox Street, London, W1S 2PA
bombaybustle.com
Wembley Park
Wembley Park is hosting a FREE three-day Diwali celebration this year. The weekender kicks off with bhangra music, BollyRed Dance Company, and Dhol drummers, with live music performances, sets from DJ Ritu, lantern making workshops, a lantern parade, a rangoli art competition and a special edition of Bollywood club night Kuch Kuch Nights also on the programme.
Fri 1st – Sun 3rd November 2024
Wembley Park, London, HA9
wembleypark.com
DabbaDrop
If you’re planning to celebrate Diwali at home, order up a DabbaDrop. The sustainable delivery service is doing a Kolkata-inspired menu, featuring courgette & cucumber shukto; chokka with pumpkin and black gram; cholar dal; and tomato & peanut rice, with jalebi also available as a sweet extra to add on to your curries.
Weds 6th & Fri 8th November 2024
dabbadrop.co.uk
Ravneet Gill & Tarunima Sinha at The Standard
Ravneet Gill and cook and baker Tarunima Sinha are teaming up to curate a spesh Diwali menu featuring some of their fave dishes at Isla at The Standard. Running for three days, the menu will include the likes of vegan beetroot chop with chilli chutney; aloo tikki chaat; grilled masala paneer in makhni gravy; boondi raita; and gajar halwa.
Fri 1st – Sun 3rd November 2024
10 Argyle Street, London, WC1H 8EG
standardhotels.com
Jamavar
Samyukta Nair’s Michelin-starred restaurant Jamavar is running a £140-a-head tasting menu (with a veggie option available) for Diwali this year. It includes dishes like konkan soft shell crab with roasted coconut, murgh tikka kesari, Kerala prawn biryani, Old Delhi butter chicken, and gajrela, and you can add on a wine flight for £90.
Until Sun 3rd November 2024
8 Mount St, London W1K 3NF
jamavarrestaurants.com
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