Located close to Blackfriars, the South Bank and St Paul’s Cathedral, Bulbul is the latest project from chef and restaurateur Rohan D’Souza and Twinkle Keswani, who have launched a number of restaurants in Indian, including in Goa, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Kerala.
One of only a handful of Indian-origin restaurant brands to open in the capital since 2022, Bulbul will serve a pan-Indian menu with the founders having travelled across the subcontinent spending time in home kitchens and local markets to explore recipes and techniques they say rarely travel beyond their place of origin.
Alongside D’Souza, the kitchen will be headed up by chefs Yash Dadlani and Ashfaq Shaikh who will each bring the cuisines of their upbringing to table. While some dishes on the menu will remain close to their roots, others will take a different direction, ‘pairing deeply rooted Indian flavours with contemporary techniques and subtle global influences’ according to the restaurant.
Dishes will include a Tamil Nadu-style dosa stuffed with crab meat and with a forest pepper masala, served with house pickle; Goan shrimp balchão - 48-hour aged and braised shrimp balchão served on melba toast; Jim Corbett Hunter’s murgh mussallam; and nilgiri beef short rib korma,
The cocktail programme at Bulbul takes its cue from the restaurant’s namesake bird, celebrated for its song, with each drink inspired by a different region, ingredient or culinary tradition.
Bulbul will open on Tudor Street in early summer.