Dishoom has plans for a new restaurant on London's South Bank
We can already picture the queues
One of the signature London restaurants that can attract a queue of patrons, Dishoom, has plans for a new branch in one of the most visually iconic areas of the capital.
Dishoom wants to open a new South Bank restaurant, beside the Royal Festival Hall.
This is according to a planning application to Lambeth Council, which details changes coming to the space. And if you’re a frequent visitor to this part of London, you may well be able to picture exactly where it is.
Dishoom will take over the old site of Las Iguanas, right by the Golden Jubilee bridges that take pedestrians over the Thames and over to Charing Cross station.
The plan is to install a new roof and verandah, to make the restaurant’s outdoors area more usable throughout the year. This and other renovation plans are expected to cost up to £2 million, and be completed by mid-October.
Dishoom is yet to officially announce this new space, though, and it has its hands full later this year with another important opening.
Dishoom Borough is set to open in October, opposite Borough Market. Its road to opening also gives us some idea about how long it may take the South Bank site to get up and running.
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We heard about the Borough site's planning applications in November 2025, almost a full year ahead of when — fingers crossed — the restaurant opens.
It seems unlikely we’re just a handful of weeks away from yet another London site for Dishoom beside the Thames, then.
Las Iguanas only closed recently — it’s not clear exactly when the restaurant shut its doors — following a company restructuring. The chain was saved from administration in June 2026 when a plan was approved by a High Court judge. And now, Las Iguanas only lists two London locations on its website, The O2 and Wembley.
Meanwhile, Dishoom currently has seven London spots: Battersea, Carnaby, Canary Wharf, Covent Garden, Kensington, King’s Cross and Shoreditch. Black Daal beats the bottomless brunch in the current restaurant climate, it seems.
We’ll be on the lookout for more news of Dishoom’s Borough and Southbank restaurant openings.
Andrew Williams has written about all sorts of stuff for more than a decade — from tech and fitness to entertainment and fashion. He has written for a stack of magazines and websites including Wired, TrustedReviews, TechRadar and Stuff, enjoys going to gigs and painting in his spare time. He's also suspiciously good at poker.
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