Hankies

The name is the dish. Roomali roti, the tissue-thin wheat flatbread hand-spun until nearly translucent and cooked on a domed tawa at high heat, is folded into small squares that resemble pocket handkerchiefs, hence Hankies. At 61 Upper Berkeley Street, that single preparation anchors an entire menu philosophy: Delhi street food recast as refined small plates for a Marylebone dining room.

The format is Indian tapas in structure, North Indian and Delhiite in soul. Dishes are designed for sharing, leaning on the aromatic, vegetable-forward register of street stalls rather than the butter-heavy fare that long dominated London's Indian restaurant scene. The kitchen keeps presentations polished without erasing the casual energy of the source material.

The concept comes from chef and co-owner Anurudh Arora, whose CV maps a specific trajectory through London's modern Indian tier. He was sous-chef at Benares from its 2003 opening, went on to head the kitchen at Udaimahal inside The Oberoi Udaivilas in Rajasthan, then spent roughly a decade as head chef at Moti Mahal in London. That arc, Michelin-adjacent London dining, luxury Indian hospitality, back to London, informs what Hankies does with street food: the flavours are recognisably of the pavement, the execution is not.

The Roomali tawa is visible from the dining room, which makes the bread-making a live element of the meal rather than a back-kitchen detail. It is a practical choice that also communicates the restaurant's priorities clearly: this is a place where the flatbread is worth watching being made, not an afterthought arriving in a basket.