Chef Aktar Islam to launch Oudh 1722 in London restaurant debut

Chef Aktar Islam is to open his first restaurant in London later this year.

 

His new restaurant, set to open this spring, will spotlight Awadhi cuisine, featuring the region’s defining dishes and preparation methods as developed in the royal courts of northern India.

 

Oudh 1722 will be set across three floors in a listed Victorian building in Borough and marks Islam’s first restaurant outside of his Birmingham hometown.

 

The 2024 Catey Chef Award winner is best known as the chef behind Birmingham’s two Michelin-starred Opheem – one of only two Indian restaurants in the UK and four globally to hold such a distinction.

 

Islam began his culinary career in his father’s restaurant aged 13.

 

Islam has invested heavily into his hometown of Birmingham over the past 20 years, opening 11 restaurants across the city, each of which spotlight a different cuisine and cooking style.

 

Of his upcoming London opening, Islam said: “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.”

 

Oudh 1722 menu will feature dishes including silken kebabs, biryanis and curries prepared with in the historic dum pukht method, in which ingredients are slow-cooked over a low flame to gently build depth and flavour.