At Oudh 1722, some of London’s best Indian food comes with a catch

Every year, my sisters and I have a tradition. Whoever’s birthday it is gets to choose somewhere special for lunch. Come July and it’s my turn, and after hearing plenty of buzz about Chef Aktar Islam’s first London restaurant, Oudh 1722, I know exactly where I want to go.

Aktar Islam isn’t just any chef. His Birmingham restaurant, Opheem, holds two Michelin stars, making it one of only a handful of Indian restaurants in the world with that accolade. So expectations are high as the three of us wander over from Borough Market to Oudh 1722 for my birthday lunch.

Thankfully, the food doesn’t just live up to the hype: in places, it exceeds it. By the end of lunch, I’m convinced Oudh 1722 is serving some of the most exciting Indian food in London.

The only catch? It looks like the menu now costs noticeably more than it did just a few months ago, and that’s worth knowing.

Quick info on Oudh 1722

• Cuisine: Awadhi Indian
• Location: Borough Market
• Price: Around £100 per person before drinks
• Halal? Yes, everything at Oudh 1722 is halal.
• Must order: Mutanjan dum biryani, kara masala ka gosht (goat curry), machhli qaliya (monkfish curry)
• Skip: Dahi paneer and the pudina paratha.

Find out more in the full Oudh 1722 restaurant review below.

Our Oudh 1722 meal gets off to an excellent start

We start our lunch at Oudh 1722 with the papad selection, which initially makes me pause given its £12 price tag.

Then it arrives, and what looked pricey on paper turns out to be an enormous mountain of beautifully bubbled papads, served with four generous chutneys: coriander, yoghurt,  tamarind, and mango.

It’s comfortably enough for three people and the perfect way to take the edge off our hunger. I particularly love dipping the darker papads into the cooling yoghurt before adding a hit of the mango chutney.

Next come the gol guppa. Each of the four delicate shells arrive filled with potato and sprouting moong, ready for us to pour in the fragrant jaljeera before eating in one bite. They explode spectacularly in the mouth, being sharp, cooling, spicy (and gone almost before you know it).

It’s one of those dishes from the Oudh 1722 menu that makes everyone around the table grin.

At this point, we’re already feeling pretty pleased with the birthday choice.

The kebabs to order (and the ones to skip)

The famous Herdwick lamb gilawat kebab at Oudh 1722 is one of the restaurant’s signature dishes, and the waiter talks us through exactly how to eat it.

We spread the impossibly soft lamb (more pate than kebab) across delicate roti, add green chilli sauce and pickled onion, roll it up and eat it in one mouthful. It’s delicious.

But for two tiny patties, it’s also very expensive at £16, and awkward to share between three people. As lovely as it is, I don’t think I’d order it again.

The dahi paneer, meanwhile, is the only real disappointment of the meal.

It’s certainly generous in size, but compared with everything else on the table, it feels oddly muted. The cultured cream and fenugreek create something gentle and delicate, but not especially memorable. There are so many brilliant ways to cook paneer. Sadly, for us, this isn’t one of them.

Far better is the boti kebab, which is rich, deeply savoury and a little more generously portioned, it’s packed with beefy flavour and cries out to be scooped up with warm naan. If you’re choosing between the kebabs on the Oudh 1722 menu, this is the one I’d recommend.

Then comes the dish everyone should order at Oudh 1722

The Mutanjan dum biryani at Oudh 1722 arrives in a generous dish, and from the very first spoonful, I know it’s something special.

Chunks of oxtail collapse effortlessly from the bone into fragrant aged basmati rice, threaded with more chunks of meat, sweet carrot, crunchy onions and beautifully balanced spices. Every forkful seems to reveal another piece of that impossibly tender meat.

At £40, it’s one of the clearest examples of Oudh 1722’s apparent recent price increases, from a reported £32.

Even so, this is one dish where I struggle to complain. It’s exceptional, generously portioned and easily feeds four alongside the rest of the menu.

I’d go so far as to say that it’s the best biryani I’ve eaten in London.

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The curries prove the biryani isn’t a fluke

Thankfully, the biryani isn’t the only showstopping dish from the Oudh 1722 menu.

The machhli qaliya, an Awadhi monkfish curry, is another standout dish.

Monkfish can sometimes feel a little too dense, but here it holds its shape well while soaking up a richly spiced sauce that reminds me of the sort of fish curry my mum would make at home. It’s deeply comforting, packed with flavour and demands a naan to mop up every last drop.

The kara masala ka gosht, with its confit goat, is equally impressive. The goat has been cooked until it’s impossibly tender, almost melting into the sauce with a silky richness that reminds me of roasted bone marrow. It’s another dish I’d order again without hesitation.

To go alongside the curries, we choose both the coriander and ghee naan and the pudina paratha.

The naan is excellent. Puffy, buttery and perfect for scooping up those rich sauces. At £6 it isn’t huge, but it’s good enough to justify the price.

The paratha isn’t for me. It’s surprisingly dense and almost crumbly, reminding me more of shortbread than the layered paratha I’m hoping for. It’s another order I’d skip on a return visit.

Desserts round things off beautifully

By the time desserts arrive, we’re comfortably full – but there’s always a little room for something sweet.

The gulab jamun is exactly what you want from a classic. It’s served as a syrup-soaked log with Chantilly cream alongside, and is warm, sweet and comforting. One of my sisters isn’t convinced the cream belongs there, but I quite like the contrast.

The ras malai dessert is equally successful. A soft disk of milk cake sits in fragrant cardamom-infused milk, topped with candied pistachios. Despite more modern flourishes, it still feels reassuringly traditional, which is why it works.

Then comes one final surprise.

Because we’re celebrating my birthday, the kitchen brings over a plate of miniature madeleines, still warm from the oven, alongside what looks like condensed milk for dipping. They’re completely unexpected, generously portioned and disappear within minutes.

It’s a lovely touch that leaves us finishing lunch on a very happy note.

Excellent food, but the pricing deserves a conversation

Service throughout lunch is polished and attentive. Water glasses are refilled before we notice, dishes arrive at a comfortable pace, and the staff happily explain how certain dishes should be eaten.

The pricing is a more complicated conversation.

Because I walked in without any context, I accepted the bill as the going rate for one of London’s top Indian restaurants. At around £100 per person before drinks, it’s certainly a special occasion restaurant, but not out of step with others in the same bracket.

What gives me pause is discovering afterwards how much several dishes appear to have increased in price since the restaurant opened just a few months earlier.

Comparing my bill with prices reported by reviewers who visited shortly after opening, the papad selection appears to have risen from £8 to £12. Desserts that were previously £11 are now £13. The monkfish curry seems to have increased from £26 to £38, while the biryani has reportedly gone from £32 to £40 and the confit goat from £24 to £32.

Those look like substantial increases in a relatively short period of time, if the dishes themselves are roughly the same size.

It’s a shame because the food is excellent. Rather than talking solely about the cooking, you inevitably start wondering why prices have climbed quite so quickly – and if those price hikes are justified.

Is Oudh 1722 worth booking?

Yes – with caveats.

There’s no doubt in my mind that Oudh 1722 is serving delicious Indian food. The biryani is exceptional and the monkfish curry and confit goat are worth coming back for.

Not everything lands though, and I’d happily skip the paneer and the paratha next time.

The bigger issue, though, is the pricing.

Had these been the opening prices, I’d probably have accepted them as the cost of dining at one of London’s most exciting new Indian restaurants. What makes me hesitate is how quickly several dishes appear to have increased in price. It’s worth knowing before you book, because it might changes how you feel about the experience.

So, before you book Oudh 1722, here’s what I’d say. Go for the food because it really is every bit as good as you’ve heard. Just go in with your eyes open and order strategically.

Despite the caveats, I’d happily go back.

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Oudh 1722 London review
Address – 66 Union St, London SE1 1TD
Nearest Tube – London Bridge