Dusra

“Dusra (“second” or “other”) opened in late June 2026 on the site of what was Annapurna. It is the second restaurant of a family that own the Thames Tandoori in Waterloo Road. By coincidence I used to go to that place occasionally when I was working nearby on the South Bank. Head chef at Dusra is Diwan Aryan, who was formerly head chef of the Thames Tandoori in Waterloo.

The air conditioning worked well, which was handy on this warm summer evening. Although the intention is to offer alcoholic drinks, the licensing process had not yet been completed when we visited at the second week of serviuce, so at this meal we could only have non-alcoholic beer or soft drinks. I had a nicely made lassi and tried a non-alcohol beer, which firmly reminded me of why beer should really have alcohol in if it is to work properly as a drink.

Popadoms and pickles were fine. The popadoms were crisp and the mango chutney was made in house. The lime pickle was bought in from a supplier and there were also some chopped onions. Aloo tikki was a little different from the versions that I have seen in, for example, Southall. This was just a trio of potato spheres that had been shallow fried, served with some chutney on the plate. They had very little spice though decent texture, and were rather one dimensional (10/20). Onion bhaji avoided greasiness but was also lacked in distinct, vibrant spices. It came with a particularly sorry looking side salad, which should really not have left the kitchen (10/20).

Chicken biryani was not good. The rice had no pastry seal, and lacked the distinct grains and aromatic flavour that yet get in top biryani, such as that in Hyderabad. A further issue is that the limited chicken that was used had been cut far too fine, so only tiny pieces appeared, and with a small surface area these chicken pieces had dried out (9/20). 

Tandoori prawns were the best dish of the meal by some way. The prawns had none of the whiff of chlorine that can happen with cheap prawns, and the shellfish were cooked pretty well. Perhaps they could have been cooked a fraction less to my taste, but they were still reasonably firm and their flavour nicely reflected the marinade used (12/20). 

Aloo gobi had potatoes and cauliflower that were cooked just a little too long. Nonetheless they still retained their texture to a degree and were not mushy, as can all too often be the case with this dish. The spices were nicely balanced here, and the vegetables absorbed them well (11/20). Makhani dal did not seem to use the very best quality while urad lentils and did not have the deep, smoky flavour that you get with the very best versions of this dish. Nonetheless, this was a perfectly reasonable rendition of the dish (11/20). Garlic naan was well cooked, arriving hot and having pleasant, soft texture and a decent amount of garlic flavour (12/20).

We were not offered a dessert menu, but I notice that they used Nescafé coffee. It would be nice to see this upgraded to a speciality coffee, given how many such roasters are available in London. The bill came to £41 each with a lassi to drink. This was not an unreasonable amount of money itself, but the issue is really the quality of the food relative to the price. The bill here was only a little less than, for example, the vastly superior Delhi Social. Nonetheless, as a new entrant to my local area I wish them well and hope that they find a good base of customers.