Shamil Thakrar had no idea when he graduated from University College Oxford with a PPE degree in 1993, that fast forward several decades he’d be opening his own restaurant in Oxford.
Co-founder of Dishoom, one of the UK’s most successful and up-and-coming restaurant chains, with 13 eateries (10 Dishooms and three Permit Rooms) under their belts, Shamil is delighted to be back in the city, stamping his mark on Oxford where he spent so many happy years. Dishoom’s Permit Room Oxford’s 126 seat all-day Bombay style bar/café opening in October on New Inn Hall Street!
“I see it the Permit Room as the naughty sibling, the son who raids the liquor cabinet! They just have a little bit more attitude for everyone to enjoy,” Shamil explains.
Like a Bombay speakeasy, Permit Rooms were a reaction to the 1949 Prohibition Act in Bombay when cocktail lounges were often set up in locals’ living rooms until the 1960s and 1970s when restrictions on drinking began to ease.
So you can expect signature Permit Room cocktails and all-day food offering, from drinking snacks and flavoured curries to beloved Dishoom favourites and breakfast naan rolls, alongside a DJ and some great music.
Shamil founded Dishoom with his cousin Kavi back in in 2010, giving up a great job as a management consultant to open their Bombay brasserie style eatery in London.
It took three years before it took off and since then Dishoom has gone from strength to strength. The Permit Rooms is a more relaxed hybrid, – more street food and cocktails than a formal meal, and well suited to Oxford’s transient and student population.
“Everyone thought we were mad because we had good jobs, so why would we go and open a curry house, but we saw a gap in the market and a way to redress the British image of India – it’s not all curry houses, cricket and The Raj. So we based it on the Irani breakfast cafes in Bombay, and went from there.
Not that Dishoom’s success was instant. “It was much harder than expected,” Shamil accedes. “We would sit there wondering where all the customers were and why they didn’t want to eat Indian breakfast.”
So what changed? “We just worked really, really hard to make it work. If I knew then what I know now would I have done it? Who knows, I often think about that, but we had conviction and by 2012 it was working. But that’s a beginners mind for you – everything is possible – and we knew there was a community out there for us, we just had to find our market.”
With branches now stretching from Edinburgh to London, Manchester to Brighton, judging by the opening party last night, Oxford’s Permit Room is going to be a big hit, as the cocktails flowed and we enjoyed some delicious street food, mixed in with some more trad dishes.
So what’s taken Shamil and Kavi so long to open here? “We couldn’t find the right site (Dishoom Permit Room is in the old Argos on New Inn Hall Street) so I did feel a bit disloyal when we opened in Cambridge first,” he smiles.
“But it had to be right; somewhere that really brought people together, where everyone can have a good time. So it’s lovely to be back and I’m very proud to be opening here, even if Oxford hasn’t changed much.
So where in Oxford did he eat as a student? “Cowley Road had the best curries – I remember The Aziz – and The Standard in Jericho (which is still there). Happy days.”
Permit Room Oxford opens today at North Bailey House, New Inn Hall Street, OX1 2RP https://www.permitroom.co.uk/locations/oxford