Two people can book a table at Dishoom for 5.45pm. The same two people cannot book for 6.15pm, and will wait between thirty minutes and an hour instead.
Bookings of any size are accepted during the day. After 6pm, only groups of six or more can book.
So the single most valuable thing to know about Dishoom is that moving your plan fifteen minutes earlier converts a queue into a reservation. Nothing on their site puts those two facts next to each other.
They publish their own queue times, which is rare
Most restaurants are vague about this. Dishoom is not.
At breakfast and lunchtime, walk right in: little or no queue.
After 6pm and at weekends, total wait times range from 30 minutes to 1 hour.
You are given complimentary chai while you wait, and once there is room you can take a seat at the bar with drinks and snacks while the table is readied. So the hour is not an hour standing outside, but it is still an hour.
Most tables are deliberately held back for walk-ins, which is why the booking slots look so thin. If the time you want is unavailable, turning up is the intended route rather than a fallback.
A ninth London café opens on 12 October
Dishoom Borough opens on Monday 12 October 2026, in The Hop Exchange, 11 to 13 Park Street, London SE1 9AB.
Bookings are already open and walk-ins are welcome from the first day. The Hop Exchange is the Victorian hop merchants’ building a minute from Borough Market, which makes this the first Dishoom on that side of the river.
Worth knowing because a new branch is the one time the 6pm problem is softer: the people who know about the queue do not yet know about this address.
Only one branch does an 8am weekend breakfast
Breakfast ends at 11.45am everywhere, and the All Day menu starts at noon. The start time is where they differ.
Shoreditch serves breakfast from 8am every day, weekends included.
Every other London branch starts at 8am on weekdays but 9am on Saturday and Sunday.
So if you want a bacon naan roll at half past eight on a Sunday, there is exactly one Dishoom in London that will give you one. That is a genuinely useful piece of information and it is buried in a different paragraph on eight different pages.
Group bookings go four months out
Online bookings are accepted up to four months in advance for up to 16 guests, with enquiries taken for parties larger than that.
Four months is a long horizon for a restaurant at this price, and it means a Christmas or birthday table is bookable well before the walk-in crowd has thought about it. For anything over 16, or for private dining, you contact them directly.
Remember the six-person threshold: a group of six or more can book an evening table like anyone else, which is the other way around the 6pm rule.
The London branches
There are eight now and nine from 12 October: Covent Garden, Carnaby, King’s Cross, Shoreditch, Kensington, Canary Wharf, Battersea, and Borough from the 12th. Outside London there are branches in Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester, Edinburgh and Glasgow.
Covent Garden, 12 Upper St Martin’s Lane, WC2H 9FB, on 020 7420 9320. Open Monday to Thursday 8am to 11pm, Friday 8am to midnight, Saturday 9am to midnight, Sunday 9am to 11pm. Nearest tube Covent Garden or Leicester Square. It has an indoor-outdoor verandah.
Kensington, 4 Derry Street, W8 5SE.
Borough, The Hop Exchange, 11 to 13 Park Street, SE1 9AB, from 12 October.
Note the Friday and Saturday midnight closes at Covent Garden. It is one of the few places in that part of town serving proper food that late.
Diets and access
All branches are described as halal-friendly, vegan-friendly and vegetarian-friendly, with a dedicated vegan and gluten-free menu rather than substitutions on the main one.
Covent Garden’s published access list is fuller than most: wheelchair-accessible entrance, seating and lift, step-free access to the front door, a loo on the same floor as the dining area, and a disabled loo. Access varies by building, so check the branch rather than assuming.
How to plan it
Two or three of you, in the evening: book for 5.45pm, because 6pm closes the door on small bookings.
Six or more: book any time you like, including after 6pm.
Will not shift the time: expect 30 to 60 minutes, with free chai and a bar seat along the way.
Breakfast at the weekend: Shoreditch from 8am, or 9am anywhere else.
No queue at all: breakfast or lunch, any branch.
A big occasion: book up to four months ahead, up to 16 people.
From 12 October: the new Borough branch, which nobody has queued at yet.
Dishoom Covent Garden
- Address
- 12 Upper St Martin’s Lane, London WC2H 9FB
- Nearest
- Covent Garden and Leicester Square
- Hours
- Monday to Thursday 8am to 11pm, Friday 8am to midnight, Saturday 9am to midnight, Sunday 9am to 11pm. Breakfast 8am to 11.45am weekdays and 9am to 11.45am at weekends, All Day menu from noon
- Booking
- Any group size before 6pm. After 6pm, only groups of six or more. Online up to four months ahead for up to 16 guests, with enquiries for larger parties. Most tables are held for walk-ins
- Price
- Bombay comfort food across breakfast, lunch and dinner, with a dedicated vegan and gluten-free menu
- Standing
- The Talkies-era café, with an indoor-outdoor verandah, open until midnight on Fridays and Saturdays
How to get in
Booking for 5.45pm rather than 6.15pm converts an hour-long wait into a reservation, because small bookings close at 6pm. Dishoom publishes its own wait times: little or no queue at breakfast and lunch, 30 minutes to an hour after 6pm and at weekends, with complimentary chai while you wait.
Dishoom Borough
- Address
- The Hop Exchange, 11 to 13 Park Street, London SE1 9AB
- Nearest
- London Bridge and Borough
- Hours
- Opening Monday 12 October 2026
- Booking
- Open now for tables, and walk-ins welcome from the first day
- Price
- Bombay comfort food across breakfast, lunch and dinner
- Standing
- The ninth London café and the first south of the river, in the Victorian Hop Exchange a minute from Borough Market
How to get in
Opens on 12 October 2026. A new branch is the one time the evening queue is softer, because the people who know about the 6pm booking rule do not yet know about this address.
Dishoom Shoreditch
- Address
- Boundary Street, Shoreditch, London, just behind Shoreditch High Street
- Nearest
- Shoreditch High Street and Liverpool Street
- Hours
- Breakfast from 8am every day including weekends, until 11.45am. All Day menu from noon
- Booking
- Any group size before 6pm. After 6pm, only groups of six or more
- Price
- Bombay comfort food across breakfast, lunch and dinner
- Standing
- The only Dishoom in London serving breakfast from 8am at the weekend
How to get in
Every other London branch starts weekend breakfast at 9am. This is the one place to get a bacon naan roll at half past eight on a Sunday.
Where to go next
The Indian restaurants page covers the rest, and breakfast in London covers the 8am question more widely.
Borough Market is a minute from the new branch, and Padella is the other queue worth understanding before you join it.
Questions we get asked
Do you need to book Dishoom?
Bookings of any size are accepted during the day, but after 6pm only groups of six or more can book. Most tables are deliberately kept for walk-ins. Booking for 5.45pm instead of 6.15pm is the simplest way for a small group to get a guaranteed evening table.
How long is the queue at Dishoom?
Dishoom publishes this itself: little or no queue at breakfast and lunchtime, and total waits of 30 minutes to 1 hour after 6pm and at weekends. You get complimentary chai while waiting and can take a bar seat with drinks and snacks once there is room.
When does Dishoom Borough open?
Monday 12 October 2026, in The Hop Exchange at 11 to 13 Park Street, London SE1 9AB, a minute from Borough Market. Bookings are already open and walk-ins are welcome from the first day.
What time is breakfast at Dishoom?
Breakfast runs until 11.45am at every branch, with the All Day menu from noon. It starts at 8am on weekdays everywhere. At weekends it starts at 9am, except in Shoreditch, which serves from 8am every day.
How far ahead can you book Dishoom?
Up to four months in advance online, for up to 16 guests. For larger parties or private dining you contact the café directly.
How many Dishooms are there in London?
Eight, becoming nine when Borough opens on 12 October 2026: Covent Garden, Carnaby, King's Cross, Shoreditch, Kensington, Canary Wharf, Battersea and Borough. There are also branches in Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester, Edinburgh and Glasgow.
Is Dishoom good for vegetarians and vegans?
Yes. The All Day menu carries vegetarian dishes including Pau Bhaji, Makhmali Paneer, House Black Daal and Gunpowder Potatoes, and there is a dedicated vegan and gluten-free menu rather than substitutions. All branches are described as halal-friendly.
Written by Robert J Wills, no. 263 in the guide.
Last checked 5 October 2026 against the venues' own published information. Nobody pays to appear here and we take no bookings.
