The story
Pahli Hill is a regional Indian restaurant at 79-81 Mortimer Street in Fitzrovia, London, and it holds a 2026 Michelin Bib Gourmand for good quality, good value cooking. The menu moves between coastal, Mughal and southern Indian home kitchens, served as plates meant for sharing.
The team page lists Mahesh as head chef, and the clay oven and grill carry much of the menu. Kandhari lamb chops arrive with yoghurt, mustard and mint chutney, in portions of two or four. Tandoori broccoli, finished with cream cheese, toasted almonds and guntoor chilli chutney, gives vegetarians a smoky option that is not an afterthought. Flaky flat bread comes straight from the tandoor, buttery and crisp at the edges.
Mangalorean fish curry combines wild halibut, green mango, ginger and coconut. Butter chicken is built on plum tomato, cashews, cardamom and fenugreek. The Good Food Guide singled out the grill and tandoor as a sound bet, along with Pondicherry fried squid served with Guntur chilli chutney and a Chettinad-style veal shin. Dessert is rabdi tres leches, with cream, almonds, rose petals and pistachios.
Upstairs is bright and warm, with tables arranged for sharing and brass-lit interiors. Bandra Bhai sits downstairs, reached by a back staircase and an unmarked door. It is a darker, low-lit cocktail bar with curry-leaf gin, jaggery sours and Indian single malts. Both rooms draw on the same kitchen, so the mood changes while the food stays consistent.
Recognition
Details
History
good quality, good value cooking
* Avinash Shashidhara has announced his departure from the restaurant after a five-year stint. More details to follow.* Avinash Shashidhara honed his craft at Claude Bosi’s Hibiscus (RIP) and the River Café but has gone back to his roots at this comfortably relaxed Indian restaurant on the site of the once-legendary Gaylord curry house. Pahli Hill (named after a Mumbai suburb) looks and feels just right, with its glowing lights, fragrant aromas, colourful Indian paintings and woven cane chairs. Limber up with a cocktail or two in the subterranean Bandra Bhai bar before returning upstairs for a menu of regional sharing plates executed with skill, precision and subtlety. Anything from the grill or tandoor is a sound bet, perhaps Cornish monkfish (marinated in mango pickle) with monk's beard, grilled corn and lime or meltingly tender lamb cutlets, spiced with black pepper, cumin and curry leaves – all mollified by a cooling mint raita. Other top calls have included crisp Pondicherry fried squid with pumpkin and Guntur chilli chutney, a gorgeous ‘home-style’ fish curry packed with mussels and halibut, and a dish of Chettinad-style veal shin with black pepper, fennel and chilli, best eaten with some flaky flatbread fresh from the tandoor. Service does its job admirably, and there are plenty of thoughtfully chosen spice-friendly wines to match the food.
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