Empire Empire

Is Empire Empire worth booking?

Yes; and the Michelin Bib Gourmand (2024) makes the case before you even look at the menu. For a neighbourhood Indian at the ££ price point on All Saints Road in Notting Hill, Empire Empire delivers a level of cooking that most restaurants at double the price fail to match. This is the Gunpowder group's northwest India and Punjab-focused project, it earns its recognition through sourcing and specificity: the kitchen leans hard into regional identity, not a pan-Indian crowd-pleaser approach, that discipline shows on every plate.

What to expect when you arrive

The room is compact and deliberately retro. Coloured tiled flooring, dark wood furnishings, whitewashed walls hung with vintage album covers of Indian disco performers set the tone immediately. The energy is warm and informal, driven largely by a jukebox playing infectious Indian disco tracks that give the space a distinct personality without tipping into theme-park territory. A photo booth sits in the corner. The noise level is lively; this is not a quiet dinner conversation venue after 8 PM, but the atmosphere is the point, not an inconvenience. If you want a quieter room for a detailed conversation, go early or consider Trishna nearby for a more subdued setting.

The food: regional focus, not generic curry house

Chef Kyle Zachary's menu is structured around nashta (snacks) and starters, kebabs and tikkas, biryanis, curries, the architecture of northwest Indian cooking rather than the diffuse everything-to-everyone format that dilutes so many London Indian restaurants. The sourcing logic here is visible in the specificity of the dishes: Amritsari pakoras (a Punjabi street-food tradition with a particular batter technique), bihari ribeye beef kebab from the charcoal grill, the King Prawns Kadhai Masala, which the Michelin inspectors specifically call out as a demonstration of the kitchen's command of spicing. These are not generic preparations dressed up with good ingredients, they are dishes where the sourcing decisions, particularly around seafood and meat, are the reason the flavour is what it is.

The butter chicken is a house speciality and the right entry point for a first visit. The sag gosht carries a gaminess that signals quality lamb rather than commodity protein. The bhindi dopiaza is built around tomatoes and onion with a spice balance that is direct and confident. Fresh naan arrives from the oven and is worth ordering more than once. The gulab jamun with ice cream closes the meal cleanly. Across the board, this is a kitchen that understands what regional sourcing means in practice: the flavours are big and specific, not blurred by over-fusion or under-seasoning.

Value and booking window

At the ££ price point, Empire Empire is one of the stronger value propositions in London Indian dining. You are paying for Gunpowder-group execution, a Michelin-recognised kitchen, a room with genuine personality, none of which you get at this price bracket from the more formal Indian restaurants in Mayfair. Booking is rated easy, which means you can typically secure a table within a reasonable window rather than planning weeks in advance. That said, All Saints Road has developed a real following as a Notting Hill dining destination, weekend evenings fill quickly. Book a few days to a week ahead for weekday tables; give yourself more lead time for Friday and Saturday. Walk-ins may work for early sittings on quieter nights, but don't rely on it.

For context on London Indian dining: Amaya and Benares operate at significantly higher price points with a more formal register, the right choice if occasion dining or a client dinner requires it, but not the same proposition as Empire Empire's neighbourhood energy. Ambassadors Clubhouse is another Notting Hill option worth knowing. For regional Indian cooking with serious sourcing credentials at a comparable price tier in Birmingham, Opheem is the benchmark. For the highest tier of modern Indian fine dining globally, Trèsind Studio in Dubai operates in a different category entirely.

If you are building a broader London dining itinerary, the full London restaurants guide is the right starting point. For neighbourhood discoveries across South London Indian cooking, Babur is worth adding to your shortlist. The London hotels guide, bars guide, and experiences guide round out the picture if you are planning a full trip.

Who this is for

Empire Empire works well for: food-focused diners who want a specific regional cuisine done with care rather than a generic Indian menu; couples or small groups of two to four who want a lively, informal evening with real cooking at a fair price; and anyone who finds the Mayfair Indian dining circuit too formal or too expensive for what it delivers. It is not the venue for a completely quiet dinner, a very large group, or anyone expecting the formal service polish of Amaya. reflects a consistent track record rather than a lucky run, that kind of volume at that score means the kitchen performs reliably, not just on good nights.

For UK diners planning longer food-focused trips, the leading destination restaurants, The Fat Duck in Bray, L'Enclume in Cartmel, Moor Hall in Aughton, Gidleigh Park in Chagford, Hand and Flowers in Marlow, and hide and fox in Saltwood, represent different categories of ambition and price. Empire Empire is not competing with any of them. It is doing something simpler and doing it well: a focused regional menu, a room with character, a price point that makes a repeat visit easy to justify.