The name harks back to the days of Prohibition in Bombay, when ‘permit rooms’ were the only legal outlets for the ‘therapeutic’ consumption of alcohol. Set up by the owners of Dishoom in their characterful postmodern pastiche of a dusty old Indian station buffet, it offers liquid pleasure for London’s cocktail wallahs. Alight here for a selection of Mumbai-moderne mixes and refreshing rinses that were all the rage during the Raj: punches, fizzes, gimlets, sours, smashes and Anglo-Indian Martinis have their moment, but The Permit Room’s real stars are perhaps Viceroy’s Old-Fashioned (made with bottle-aged bourbon, bay-leaf reduction and green tea) and Edwina’s Affair – a gin, rose and cardamom julep served in a copper cup. Good-value wines, Indian lagers, London ales and porters are also available, along with some top tiffin.
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