Bombay Bustle

Visit today to experience the Express Lunch set menu £29 x 2 courses or £34 3 courses and it was such an amazing experience. From the beginning the service was spectacular, they made us feel super comfortable and gave us great advice for “non spicy”/less spicy options. We loved the food, especially chicken spinach and broccoli. To end with Tiramisu was just the perfect note for our visit.

My husband and I visited this restaurant today, and it was nearly empty. The food was good (we ordered from the à la carte menu), and the service was decent. However, what really put me off was the additional charges—a 2.5% discretionary service charge and a 12.5% cover charge. According to the staff, the discretionary charge goes to employees, while the cover charge goes to the company. To me, this reflects poor management and a lack of value for both customers and staff. Because of this, I won’t be returning. £150 for 2 people a bit extreme compared to michelin star restaurants i have been to with better food and better service.

Good food, but beware of the mandatory 12.5 cover charge (on top of a 2.5% optional service charge)! The food was great overall - special mention to the lasooni palak (spinach) which was full of garlic and ginger, and the akuri truffle naan (truffled scrambled eggs on naan) was a fun and delicious deviation from the other dishes! On top of this, the service was great. The gulab jamun tiramisu was interesting but expensive (at £14), and very lacking in coffee and alcohol for a tiramisu, but the other dishes more than made up for it. While a meal here is quite pricey, the portions were mostly well-sized and I was very happy with my meal. However, the end of the meal left a bad taste in my mouth as there was a forced cover charge of 12.5% on top of an optional 2.5% service charge. I would have been happy to pay the full amount as service charge, but not only was the cover charge compulsory, I was told that it went to the company, not the waiters. This is to bypass a new rule from October stating that service charges must be shared fairly across all staff and can’t be kept by the company. This is the first time I’ve heard of a forced cover charge this hefty - for reference, there was mild outcry over Harrods adding a £1 forced cover charge to their meals to skirt the new law, and it’s a shame that even though I paid 12.5%, the excellent waiters won’t get to see any of that. On the menu, the wording is “discretionary tip of 2.5% and 12.5% cover charge”, which seems deliberately misleading as it sounds like both charges are discretionary. Overall, while I likely won’t be returning as a result, if the idea of the cover charge doesn’t put you off I’d highly recommend the food here! Every dish was delightful and while it was an expensive meal, you get what you pay for. Even with this cover charge, it’s still better value than many of the other higher-end Indian restaurants in London.