Oudh 1722

It’s always an exciting day when one of the UK’s best chefs opens a new restaurant, and this time all eyes are on Birmingham native Aktar Islam - chef-patron of two Michelin-starred Opheem - who’s made his London debut with Oudh1722. The name references the royal culinary traditions of Lucknow and Awadhi cooking, a lesser-known cuisine that Islam aims to resurrect through his own unique lens. 

The exploration begins in a four-storey Victorian building just round the corner of Borough. It’s an unlikely setting, but a beautiful one: winding wooden staircases that lead you all the way up to a very nice bar on the top floor, all exposed brick and Soho House-style furniture. Before we get there, we pass a myriad of dining rooms filled with widely-spaced tables, stained wooden floorboards that creak underfoot, and wispy white curtains pulled shut for extra privacy. The decor is stylish, but very minimal, a blank canvas for Islam to etch his culinary mark.  

We pull up a plush green chair and allow the refreshing tang of a Mango Chutney Margarita to wash over us while we peruse the menu. The food contains echoes of the chef’s fine dining background. A delicate, brothy amuse bouche of peas, asparagus, wild garlic and finely chopped lamb showcases clever layering of flavour in a couple of bites. Most dishes are generous and bold, but never overwhelmingly so. We work our way through fall-apart minced kebabs flavoured with aromatic spices, tender slices of paneer marinated in cultured cream, and big-slab lamb chops laced with cloves and heavily charred.  

Elsewhere, succulent oxtail collapses onto a bed of jewelled, glossy rice, and pillowy, garlic butter naan breads are the perfect vehicle for scooping up as-good-as-it-gets butter chicken.  

You likely won’t need dessert, but order it you must! There is an excellent syrup-soaked Gulab Jamun served with lots of Chantilly that leaves us on a sugar high. Oudh1722 presents itself quietly – no loud interiors or over-the-top theatre – but the food says it all. Aktar Islam has done it again. 

Oudh 1722 in Borough marks the London debut of chef Aktar Islam, of two Michelin-starred Opheem in Birmingham. Set across three floors of a listed Victorian building, the restaurant brings a focused celebration of Awadhi cuisine to the capital - a historic style shaped in the royal courts of northern India and centred on generosity, technique and depth of flavour.

Named for the Awadh region and a year that nods to the roots of its cooking, Oudh 1722 draws inspiration from Lucknow, long regarded as one of India’s great culinary centres and recognised by UNESCO as a Creative City of Gastronomy. The menu will explore defining dishes of the region, from silken kebabs and intricately layered biryanis to richly aromatic curries. Central to the approach is dum pukht, the traditional method of slow-cooking over a low flame, allowing flavours to develop gently and with precision.

For London diners, Oudh 1722 offers a distinct experience. Awadhi cuisine is rarely given a dedicated platform in the UK, and here it will be presented with clarity and respect for tradition. The cooking is expected to be refined and considered, designed for sharing and well suited to group dining. It’s the kind of restaurant that lends itself to meals with friends and family, where dishes arrive to the table as part of a wider conversation about flavour, technique and heritage.

Islam brings more than two decades of experience to the project. Born and raised in Birmingham, he began cooking in his father’s restaurant at just 13, before going on to shape a career that has helped redefine Indian dining in Britain. His Birmingham flagship, Opheem, holds two Michelin stars - one of only two Indian restaurants in the UK to do so - and is recognised internationally for its approach.

Of the opening, Islam says: “Awadhi cuisine represents a rich culinary tradition I have always deeply respected, yet one rarely seen in its authentic form here in the UK. With Oudh 1722, the intention is to bring the flavours of Awadh to London, drawing on the techniques, generosity and sense of hospitality that defined the Nawabi courts of Lucknow.” In Borough, that approach takes shape as a restaurant centred on shared dishes and time-honoured methods.