Six Days Only: KOKUM's Diwali Feasting Menu…
Six days. That's the whole window for KOKUM's Diwali feasting menu, running from Tuesday 3 to Sunday 8 November at the East Dulwich Indian restaurant co-founded by former Gymkhana head chef Sanjay Gour. It's limited-edition, £45 a head and built to be shared, which means the table, and the people you're sharing it with, are worth sorting sooner rather than later.
It begins with four starters: crispy spinach and kale chaat, paneer tikka angara, achari chicken tikka, and pani puri, the snack that asks for total commitment in a single bite, so dainty nibbling is off the table. Mains bring KOKUM's butter chicken and dal makhani, two dishes that tend to get the loudest cheer when they land, plus two further curries, with a selection of rice and breads to keep everything moving. Dessert is mango and cardamom shrikhand, the chilled, strained-yoghurt classic, which is a gentle way to land a feast.
It's one set price per person, so there's no mental arithmetic mid-feast, and the sharing format means the only real drama is who gets the last piece of paneer. We'd suggest settling that before the starters arrive.
To drink, there's Nani's Nightcap, a Diwali cocktail made with vanilla ice cream, Baileys, vodka, vanilla, and a homemade masala blend of Indian spices that the kitchen is keeping entirely to itself. Nani is the affectionate word for a maternal grandmother, which suggests grandmothers have been having a lot more fun than anyone told us.
We haven't made it to KOKUM yet, but a Diwali feast from a chef with Gymkhana in his past is exactly the kind of thing we want to go and find out about properly. If you get there before we do, tell us what you ordered, and whether the nightcap is as mischievous as it sounds.
Six days goes quickly, so worth booking early.
Booking: kokumlondon.com
58-60 East Dulwich Road, SE22 9AX