Indian café Dishoom to open Shoreditch branch

The first branch opened in 2010 in Covent Garden, with branding and interiors by Protocol. According to Dishoom, the new branch will be ‘less showy’, and will mostly retain the original branding.

Shamil Thakrar, one of the founders of Dishoom, says, ‘It’s a lot more relaxed. Every time we create a Dishoom we think about writing a different love letter to Bombay. We talked to café owners out there to get under the skin of it.’

The Shoreditch site will include a bar, café, kitchen dining room and courtyard, with a bakery on the ground floor. Dishoom is working with Scott Wittman of consultancy Gorgeous Group on some graphics elements, such as menu design and promotion collateral.

Russell Sage Studio was taken to Mumbai by the client to explore the Persian cafés that inspire the interiors.  Many fixtures and fittings are direct references to those they visited, though the space will retain its existing architecture.

‘We went through every single Persian café and came back all fired up and excited’, says consultancy founder Russell Sage. ‘[The client] wanted to explore a very particular type of old Persian cafes, which were very democratic spaces where everybody would meet and eat.’

According to Sage, the interiors will feature ‘very worn in old furniture’, back-painted glass and mirrored interiors. Other materials include dark stained Sapele and Iroko hardwoods; marble; glowing perspex panels; textured glass and bright-coloured leathers.

Sage says, ‘With the high ceilings and lighting it’s quite like moving through a film set.’