Tucked into the Lanes at 32 East Street, Dishoom Permit Room is the Brighton spin-off of the well-known Dishoom, and the name is where it all begins. It takes its cue from Bombay's 'permit rooms'—the secret bars that kept serving alcohol after prohibition in 1949, where boiled egg sellers acted as a signal to those in the know. The law only relaxed in the 1970s, and the whole place is built as a nod to Bombay's food and drink scene, with influences pulled from across India.
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The space is the first thing you'll notice. It's been described as an 'Aladdin's cave', warm and packed with character, with large windows, a mezzanine, a bar area and a rooftop terrace known as the Aunty Bar, which comes with heaters, a retractable roof and blankets for when the weather turns. The walls double as a gallery, showing work by local and South Asian artists like Olivia Waller, Manuja Waldia and Richa Kashelkar, with nods to Asha Puthri and Amrita Sher-Gil.
Food is designed for sharing, with vegan, vegetarian and meat options all on the table. Breakfast runs daily from 08:00 to 11:45, built around Naan Rolls in bacon, Wrestler's and vegan versions with masala beans, alongside oatmeal, granola and the classic Bombay Bun Maksa. The ingredients are local: bacon from Ramsay of Carluke, pork sausages from Maynard's Farm, vegan sausages from Symplicity and St. Ewe free-range eggs. Lunch and dinner move into salads, chaat, pre-dinner snacks, curries and the signature Dishoom Black Daal, cooked for 24 hours, plus jackfruit berry pulao, lamb samosas, chicken biryani with redcurrants and smoky house daal. For something sweet, there's orange blossom jelly, And Some with Boho Gelato and rum-soaked gulab jamun.
Drinks are a big part of the draw. Coffee comes from Tigermoth Coffee Roastery, afternoon ice sandwiches are made with Boho Gelato—the tutti frutti is the one to go for—and the cocktails are shaken by hand, from an orange wine margarita and a chai caffè martini to a mango lassi punch, a blushing dawn paloma, a feni martini, a Thums Up sazerac, a sober negroni and a no-hafta kiwi colada. The house chai is oat-based and bottomless, and the beer list leans local, with the UnBarred X Permit Room Pineapple and Pepper Crumble sour and a Dishoom IPA on tap. The wine list is eco-focused, organic, natural or low intervention, available in 175ml or 750ml bottles.
It's an easy place to drop into at almost any hour. It opens Monday to Sunday from 09:00 to 23:00, with the kitchen closing at 22:30, walk-ins are welcome and group bookings of up to 16 can be made up to four months ahead. It's dog-friendly, though paws stay off the chairs, wheelchair accessible and caters to halal, vegan and vegetarian diets. There's a live DJ on Thursdays, and the place has picked up a fair bit of recognition: Best Cocktails at the 2024 BRAVO Awards, one of Brighton's best restaurants and best brunches in 2025, and a food hygiene rating of 5, awarded in February 2024. If you're after a spot that works as well for a proper meal as it does for a drink and a snack, this is a strong contender.
