All About the Pastis x Dishoom Pop-Up in New York

1. This is the first time Dishoom is popping up stateside.

Each restaurant is a legend in its own right, drawing crowds and admirers from far beyond their respective local neighborhoods.

Pastis, a favorite of downtown cool-girls and a mainstay on HBO’s “Sex and the City,” was originally opened in 1999 by restaurateur Keith McNally (Balthazar) and closed in 2014, but reopened to fanfare and celebrity just five years later under prolific restaurateur Stephen Starr, with McNally as a consultant. Today, its footprint extends beyond New York, too, with locations in Miami and D.C. as well.

Across the pond, Dishoom is widely regarded as one of London’s best Indian restaurants — no small feat in a city with so many standouts — and is beloved by locals and visitors alike. The restaurant, founded by Shamil and Kavi Thakrar, got its start in Covent Garden in 2010, and has since expanded to 10 locations throughout the U.K., including Edinburgh and Manchester. This collaboration marks the first time that diners on this side of the Atlantic will get a chance to try Dishoom’s signature dishes.

2. This isn’t a full-on takeover, however. And it’s only for a limited time.

Dishoom will take over the Pastis kitchen for weekday breakfast service only, between the hours of 8 and 11 a.m., from August 19 to 30, serving up the Indian dishes they’re known so well for, which pay tribute to Irani cafés and food from Bombay, now known as Mumbai.

“I was blown away by breakfast at [Dishoom],” Pastis owner Stephen Starr says. “There’s no Indian restaurant that’s ever done that, and I still think about it all the time. It was perfect.”

“People love our breakfast; about a quarter of our guests come to us for breakfast,” Kavi Thakrar, co-founder of Dishoom, says. “We wanted to make sure we could deliver something fantastic, and this was a way to ensure we put our best foot forward and delight our guests.”

Diners can expect an authentic experience in more ways than one: The Dishoom team is sending a coalition to New York to work directly with the Pastis chefs, bartenders, and front-of-house staff, teaching them their style before the pop-up opens.

“Stephen’s team will be right alongside them, making sure we’re able to look after the Pastis guests with that Dishoom magic,” Thakrar says. “I think [Stephen and I are] pretty aligned in the way that we think about hospitality.”

3. What’s on the menu?

The menu is faithful to the breakfast menu you’ll find at Dishoom, with each dish served exactly as they are in London — even on the same plates. Everything is à la carte, with the menu split into two main sections: cooked breakfasts and naan rolls with fillings that range from bacon and sausage to egg and all three combined. There’s also fruit paired with yogurt, as well as a housemade granola.

Thakrar adds that sourcing ingredients for the pop-up hasn’t been too much of a challenge, due in part to the supplier connections that Starr and his extensive team have. (In addition to owning Pastis, Starr also owns Buddakan, La Mercerie at the Guild, Le Coucou, Upland, and The Clocktower here in New York, not to mention many other restaurants in Philadelphia, D.C., and Florida.) As for the ingredients the Dishoom team couldn’t find? They’re making them themselves. Myers of Keswick is also making a custom breakfast sausage for the pop-up, using Dishoom’s own recipe.

Not sure where to start? Dishoom executive chef Arun Tilak gave us all the details on a few signature dishes, in his own words, below.

Kejriwal

We discovered this dish while on a trip to Bombay, when visiting the Willingdon Sports Club. It’s named after a man who used to visit the club and order cheese on toast with spring onions, chiles, and two fried eggs (apparently his wife didn’t allow him to eat eggs at home!). It is a simple dish: chile cheese on toast, with two fried eggs on top. We make ours by mixing chile into the cheese on the toast, before grilling two free-range eggs. We top it off with a mix of more chile and spring onions. When the yolks pour into the cheese, it is truly delicious.

Parsi Omelette

You’ll see so many egg dishes on the menu at Irani cafés in Bombay — we love Kyani & Co. — and omelettes are really common. A typical Parsi omelette, like ours, tends to be flavored with tomato, onion, green chiles, and coriander. We serve ours at Dishoom with tomato and toast, both nicely grilled.

Akuri

This is another Irani café classic. Again, it’s a simple yet delicious dish: essentially scrambled eggs, nicely spiced. We pile three eggs alongside buttery homemade pau (Bombay bread buns) and a grilled tomato.

The Big Bombay

It is what it says. It’s big, it’s plentiful, and it’s the flavors of Bombay. Some have likened it to our take on a full English [breakfast]. Our akuri (the spiced scrambled eggs) go so well with smoked streaky bacon, peppery pork sausages (we’re using Myers of Keswick sausages while in New York), masala beans, grilled mushroom, grilled tomato, and buttered homemade buns. It’s not for the fainthearted!

Bacon Naan Roll

This dish has something of a Dishoom cult following in the U.K. It has to be our signature breakfast dish — we can’t wait to see what New York City makes of it! We fill a freshly cooked naan with a little cream cheese, tomato-chile jam, fresh coriander, and a few rashers of smoked streaky bacon. Add a fried egg, if you like.

4. And to drink?

Dishoom is bringing its chai and mango lassi to Pastis and also offering a compact menu of tipples, ranging from a Bloody-Gosh Mary with a savory makhani sauce to a Summerhouse Negroni and a Bombay Bellini with a touch of kokum.

5. Wait, so, how did this pop-up come to be?

You might attribute it to the mutual admiration that both restaurateurs have for one another and their restaurants.

“If I could figure out what the magic [Thakrar] does is, I would just copy him,” Starr laughs. “There’s magic there that I can’t touch. It’s just there. I’m sure it has something to do with his culture, how he was brought up, his parents, his sensibilities of what the customer wants. You can’t just make that up. It’s in the DNA.”

“When you have people that care deeply about the guests and their team can bring it together in a way that delivers a wonderful feeling? That is magic, or is hospitality, at its core. When you go to any of Stephen’s restaurants, you get that feeling,” Thakrar responds. “Whenever I’m in New York, I always have dinner at Pastis, and it fills me with love and joy.”

They’ve even joked about stealing concepts from one another — Starrshoom, anyone? — and snagging leases next door.

This particular pop-up has been in the works for just two months, but Starr and Thakrar say they’ve been talking in one way or another for much longer.

“We’ve been close for a while, but this pop-up was just a wild idea that we’re trying and hoping will work,” Thakrar says. For now, they’re hoping to get through this upcoming pop-up successfully, but future collaborations aren’t out of the question.

“I would never want to say never. We love what Stephen and what his team do, so who knows what the future holds,” Thakrar says.

Also not out of the question? A Dishoom on American soil or, at least, a version of it.

“I think the U.S. would be a really good home for us and for our business and our restaurants. I’d say we could find a lovely home there — we hope to, one day. I think this is the start of seeing how we can bring our food and hospitality to the people of New York,” Thakrar adds.

 

Pastis x Dishoom will be open on weekdays only from Aug. 19 to 30 from 8 to 11 a.m. Reservations are available on Resy beginning at 10 a.m. on Thursday, Aug. 1, but walk-ins are also welcome.

---

Ellie Plass is a freelance writer based in Brooklyn. Follow her on Instagram and X. Follow Resy on Instagram and X, too.