Bulbul review: The City’s new Indian restaurant will make you fall in love with Butter Chicken all over again

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Bulbul isn’t interested in serving up ‘just’ a good curry, though. It wants to take you on a tasting odyssey across India’s wider culinary heritage.

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Hidden beneath Tudor Street, this new heart-of-the-City restaurant takes inspiration from home kitchens, regional cooking and dishes that don’t get a look in on your local’s Deliveroo offering. The result is an ambitious menu that can take even go-to staples and turn them into something extraordinary.

Bulbul is at 25 Tudor Street, tucked between Blackfriars, Temple and St Paul’s, making it a particularly handy option for city workers and Fleet Street-ers looking to down tools for something a bit special.

The space has been designed with an eye for visual drama: lounge-style booths surround an open central dining area, with a fountain in front of the bar and plenty of bold, opulent detailing. There’s a thoughtful authenticity underneath all the bling, with furniture sourced from India, and a wider design taking inspiration from Indian forests and regional landscapes — all while giving a nod to the local area’s publishing trade, with the building formerly housing a printing press.

Bulbul describes itself as focussed on micro-regional Indian cuisine, with chef and restaurateur Rohan D’Souza and restaurateur Twinkle Keswani using the site to shine a light on dishes that don’t always make their way to British shores. The pair have already opened restaurants across India, but Bulbul is their first international outpost.

Rather than reducing India to the greatest hits – butter chicken, tikka, biryani and a naan or two – the team has travelled through different regions, absorbing local food to find some brilliant food stories. The Bohri Lamb Kheema, for example, draws on the cooking of the Bohra Muslim trading community, while the Forest Pepper Crab Dosa takes its cues from Tamil Nadu.

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It’s a considered concept then, but don’t worry about needing to touch up on your geography before turning up, as the staff are excellent at explaining it all. Expect not just a description of what’s on the plate, but where it comes from and why it tastes the way it does.

Bulbul only opened in summer 2026 so the whole thing is still very fresh. Even just six or so weeks in, the restaurant is already attracting a lively crowd, becoming somewhere people go to hang out rather than simply eat and leave. Indeed, one couple during our visit were simply there to prop the bar up with some cocktails — a testament to how complete a package Bulbul is.

Friends, dates, visiting food nerds and anyone who thinks they’ve already tried every Indian dish going. Provided you’ve got a stomach for spice (rest assured there are milder dishes too), you’re going to enjoy yourself here.

The sharing format makes Bulbul particularly well suited to groups. You want several things on the table so you can jump around the regions and styles, rather than committing yourself to one curry and some rice.

It also works for a date, particularly if your idea of romance involves cocktails, plenty of food and a more rambunctious atmosphere. That also acts as a caveat though — this isn’t the place for a serious catch-up where you need to hear every word your companion says. The music is relatively loud and the room is chatty, busy and energetic.

Bulbul is one to make an effort for. The surroundings are opulent, the clientele is relatively wealthy and there’s enough theatricality to the place that you won’t feel overdressed if you turn up looking sharp.

That said, it’s not formal fine dining, so you won’t be turned away in a pair of tidy trainers.

Bulbul isn’t cheap —you’re not paying local curry-house prices. But you’re getting an elevated experience too.

Starters tend to sit around the £15 – £25 mark, while substantial dishes can push towards £30 and beyond, with premium seafood and meat considerably higher. The lobster ghee roast, for example, is £50.

For two people sharing a few starters, two mains and a dessert, you’re looking at roughly £65–£75 per head before drinks and service, depending on what you order. Add a couple of cocktails and you’re more realistically in the £90–£110+ per person territory.

That’s a significant night out, but the quality of the cooking, the setting and the level of service means it earns its keep.

The cocktails are worth taking seriously, and Bulbul knows it, presenting the menu theatrically in a spice box.

I tried the Raw Mango & Malt Highball (£17) and the Guava & Mogra Martini (£17), both of which fit neatly into Bulbul’s broader approach: recognisable cocktail formats given a distinctly Indian personality, and a good dose of flair. Mango caviar as a highball chaser? Don’t mind if I do. The drinks menu follows the restaurant’s regional philosophy, with Indian ingredients and spirits getting considerably more attention than they usually do on a London restaurant list.

Ask the staff what works with what you’re ordering. Their knowledge of the food is one of Bulbul’s strengths, and the drinks are clearly intended to be part of the experience rather than an afterthought.

1. Dhaabe Ka Butter Chicken – £26

This was the standout. Yes — the humble Butter Chicken, here lifted to new heights through a careful balance of spice and superb chicken.

Butter chicken can be a difficult dish to get excited about because we’ve all eaten enough versions drowned in sweet, creamy tomato sauce to last several lifetimes. Bulbul’s is different. The tandoori chicken is excellent in its own right, with genuinely good meat and plenty of flavour that’s never overwhelmed by the sauce, that tomatoey creamy topping complimenting the meat rather than snuffing it out.

2. Bohri Lamb Kheema with Truffle Butter Pao – £19

Another highlight. The slow-braised minced lamb is rich and deeply spiced, with the green spice paste, lamb stock and lime giving it layers of flavour to unpack. And that’s before you get to the egg on top — you’ll want to order two to really pore over its details. The warm, pillowy pao with truffle butter let’s you get handsy with the meal, so be prepared to ward off the fingers of your dining mates.

3. Tamil Nadu Forest Pepper Crab Dosa – £19

One of the dishes that best captures what Bulbul is about. A crisp cheesy dosa, half-shell crab stuffed with robust pepper masala, then served with fresh coconut chutney. One of the restaurant’s signature examples of its regional approach, with the menu drawing directly on Tamil Nadu’s spice traditions. You just won’t find anything like this anywhere else.

This is the big-ticket order, and it’s a serious piece of cooking. The lobster is paired with a Mangalorean-style ghee roast masala and a cauliflower, mustard and coconut purée, bringing together the richness of the roast spices with something lighter and more aromatic underneath.

At £50, it’s not an impulse order, and if you’re sharing it doesn’t go very far. But if you’re celebrating it’s a real revel-in-it dish.

Room for dessert? Also leave space for the Coorg Chocolate Pavé with tulsi ice cream and orange granita. Rich, dark chocolate gets a lift from the fragrant herbaceous ice cream and sharp citrus, making it a considerably less heavy finale than the chocolate might suggest.

Yes – particularly if you think you’ve seen all Indian dining has to offer. Despite the lofty concept, it doesn’t treat regional Indian food like a museum exhibit. The stories and provenance matter (and the staff are rightfully proud to share them), but the end result is still supposed to be delicious – and on my visit, it very much was.

The Butter Chicken alone is worth a reservation, while the lamb kheema and crab dosa show just how much further the restaurant’s culinary ambitions go. I can’t wait to see what smart spins the team put on some of my other go-to Indian favourites, and I’m already planning a return visit.

Bulbul is found at 25 Tudor St, Temple Avenue, London EC4Y 0DD. Reservations are available through Sevenrooms.

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Gerald Lynch Editor-in-Chief Gerald Lynch is the Editor-in-Chief of Shortlist, keeping careful watch over the site’s editorial output and social channels. He’s happiest in the front row of a gig for a band you’ve never heard of, watching 70mm cinema re-runs of classic sci-fi flicks, or propping up a bar with an old fashioned in one hand and a Game Boy in the other.

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