By Wandernests Dispatch – Flavor Nest I 30 May, 2025

Pic sourced from Darjeeling Express

If you’ve never experienced a standing ovation in a dining room, you’ve clearly never had dinner at one of Asma Khan‘s legendary Biryani Supper Clubs. Tucked away in the heart of London’s vibrant Kingly Court, Darjeeling Express is more than a restaurant—it’s a movement, a stage, a storybook, and above all, a kitchen steeped in soul.

And once a month, this kitchen serves royalty. Not the blue-blooded kind (though you might spot a Netflix exec or two), but the culinary kind—Hyderabadi biryani, slow-cooked to perfection and unveiled like a diva’s encore. Welcome to Asma Khan’s Supper Club: part theatre, part history lesson, and 100% flavour.

🍲The Supper Club: More than a Meal, It’s a Manifesto

Asma Khan’s rise from home cook to global icon (thanks in part to her standout episode on Chef’s Table) is well documented. But it’s the intimacy and intention of her supper club that continues to win hearts—and stomachs.

Each evening is set menu only, featuring traditional home-style dishes from her native Calcutta and other regions of India, all leading up to the grand biryani reveal. No à la carte. No substitutions. Just trust the process. Because when Asma cooks, she’s not just feeding you; she’s telling you a story.

The Set Menu: A Progressive Journey Through India’s Kitchens

On the evening I attended, the meal began with a trio of appetisers that were a masterclass in balance and boldness:

Tamarind chutney-drenched chana chaat with a crunch that lingered.

Puchkas (Pani Puri) filled with spiced tamarind water—tangy, chilled, and electric.

Chicken Momos, steamed Darjeeling dumplings with chicken, onion and coriander served with smoked chilli sesame chutney.

Next came the mains, and with them, a reverent hush.

• Methi chicken that clung to the bone with a bitterness that bloomed.
• Paneer korma, rich and velvet-soft with slivered almonds.
• And finally, the crown jewel: Hyderabadi biryani. Covered with dough, slow-cooked in dum style, and theatrically unveiled mid-meal.

But before that golden lid was lifted, something beautiful happened.

🪄The Women Behind the Magic: A Kitchen Without Hierarchy

“As we unveil the biryani, I want to unveil the hands that made it,” Asma announced, stepping out into the dining room.

One by one, her all-women kitchen brigade emerged. Some giggled shyly. Others beamed. None wore a chef’s coat. There are no titles here, no CVs or culinary school degrees. These are immigrant women, often second-chancers who found in Asma not just employment but empowerment.

And as the aromatic steam from the biryani billowed out into the dining room, we were reminded that this dish—so often butchered in takeaways—is, in fact, a labour of love and lineage. Asma doesn’t just cook biryani; she reclaims it, telling tales of nawabs and nannies, weddings and widowhood, from a woman’s point of view.

Asma believes the kitchen is a place of equality. “There is no hierarchy here,” she told us, “because food doesn’t need a boss. It just needs love.”

🚀The Biryani Reveal: Theatre Meets Tradition

The moment the dough seal broke, releasing its perfumed steam into the dining room, was met with spontaneous applause. Not just because it smelled like paradise had been slow-cooked in saffron, but because it felt earned.

The rice, long-grain and nutty. The meat, melting. The layering, meticulous. Every grain was a note in a symphony. Accompanied by mirch ka salan (a peanut-and-chilli curry) and burhani raita (yogurt with garlic and mint), the biryani made you want to stand up and sing.

It’s food that takes its time, and asks you to do the same.

🍭Dessert, Darjeeling-Style

The meal closed with kesar phirni, a saffron-infused rice pudding served chilled in earthen pots, and a cup of Darjeeling tea, lightly brewed with cardamom.

It was the kind of ending that doesn’t scream but lingers—a whisper of sweetness to remind you that this, too, is part of the story.

Why This Matters

In a world of food fads and “elevated street food” nonsense, Asma Khan is doing something radical: serving tradition without apology. Her supper club isn’t a gimmick; it’s a grassroots culinary revival. One that puts power back in the hands of women and authenticity back on the plate.

Her kitchen model is also a quiet but powerful rebuke of macho culinary culture. No screaming. No ego. Just food, made by people who care.

🗺️ Planning Your Visit to Asma Khan’s Biryani Supper Club at Darjeeling Express

📍 Address: Top Floor, Kingly Court, Carnaby Street, London W1B 5PW
🚇 Nearest Tube: Oxford Circus Station (Central, Victoria & Bakerloo Lines)
🌐 Website & Reservations: darjeeling-express.com
📱 Follow for Announcements: @darjeelingldn on Instagram

Final Call to Arms

If you believe that food can be both resistance and ritual, that kitchens can be sites of power, and that biryani deserves a standing ovation—book yourself a seat at the next Biryani Supper Club. Support a kitchen that’s rewriting the rules and feeding London one soulful spoonful at a time.

Reserve your experience now or better yet, gift one to a friend who thinks biryani comes in a plastic tub.

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