Thus we came up with the idea of Slip-Disc: Dishoom’s Bombay London Grooves. The Carnaby connection was too good to ignore.

As soon as he knew Dishoom would be opening a restaurant on Kingly Street in Soho, in spitting distance of Carnaby Street, Shamil was keen to put out a Dishoom compilation album. As a fellow music fan, Shamil was fun to work with and we had fun poring over various tracks and artists from cult ’70s Bollywood soundtracks, to jazz greats, to quirky niche micro-genres from the 1950s and ’60s.Īs with all the immaculate attention to detail and little design touches that have been lovingly stitched into each Dishoom restaurant, the soundtrack we created seemed to find a place in people’s hearts which was very satisfying for everyone involved. It needed to feel like a café for sure, but like its design, its music needed to evoke its Bombay inspiration going back to the 1930s, and at the same time have a very unique Dishoom eye-twinkling twist. Co-founder Shamil Thakrar had a very clear vision for the exotic and wonderful Irani café idea. I’ve worked with Dishoom since its birth. I’ve been doing it ever since and have been lucky enough to make a living out of curating music for record labels, and for the music magazines I worked at, and more recently for brands through the music agency I now run. I graduated on to making tapes for my mates’ parties and as tokens of appreciation to girlfriends, before organically falling into DJing just as acid house arrived.

Like thousands of other music fans I would stay awake listening to John Peel under the duvet covers, away from the eyes and ears of my parents, recording new releases by The Fall, The Smiths, Kraftwerk or Orange Juice on to cassette tape. Segue-ing tracks or styles together, or juxtaposing different sounds to create something that feels exciting, or surprising. Personally I have always loved piecing together music. Here he has kindly penned a few words on Dishoom, his love of music and the legend that is Asha Puthli! Six years on, he has now helped us to compile and bring together the groovy vinyl that is Slip-Disc: Dishoom’s Bombay London Grooves. Rob Wood, Creative Director and Founder of Music Concierge has been helping us curate and evolve the Dishoom musical identity since Covent Garden first opened in 2010.

Jaan pehechaan ho the bombay royale