Jamavar Owners to Open Dabbawala

Correction: this article originally stated the restaurant name as Dabbawalla. The correct spelling is Dabbawala.

Sam Nair and the family who own Indian fine dining restaurant, Jamavar, on Mount Street are thought to be opening Dabbawala — a street food and chaat restaurant — this autumn.

Trusted sources close to Eater have said that the group behind Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts will open the site, formerly occupied by Claude Bosi’s Hibiscus on Maddox Street, in either September or October this year.

Jamavar opened in London, on the site occupied by Le Chabanais — Iñaki Aizpitarte's ill-fated, short-lived neo-bistro — in December last year, receiving plaudits from critics, including Fay Maschler in The Evening Standard.

The Leela group own and run a number of hotels and restaurants in India — including the original Jamavar, which opened in 2001, at The Leela Palace Bengaluru. “Luxury” Leela properties now exist across India — in New Delhi, Chennai, Goa and Mumbai.

The word Dabbawallas refer to an Indian lunchbox delivery and return system that provides hot lunches from homes and restaurants to the workplace, particularly in Mumbai, in western India. Chaat is an Indian savoury starter or roadside snack, often consisting of potato, crisp, fried bread, tamarind, coriander and yoghurt.

Check back for more news on this new opening when further details emerge.

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