Darjeeling Express

Ming Tang-Evans

• Interior Designers

London interior design studio A-nrd have added a pinch of spice to Soho with the completion of the new Darjeeling Express site. Partnering once again with pioneering chef and restaurateur Asma Khan, A-nrd have designed the interior of the critically acclaimed restaurant which has relocated back to its original location and spiritual home at Kingly Court in time for its tenth anniversary.

photo_credit Ming Tang-Evans — Ming Tang-Evans

Introduced to Asma in 2016, A-nrd designed the first Darjeeling Express site at Kingly Court and later in 2020 Darjeeling Express Covent Garden. When the studio first began working with Asma, she provided A-nrd with hundreds of photographs of her ancestral home and her travels through India. Delving back into this incredible bank of information, the studio began crafting the look and feel of the new restaurant space to create an interior that felt homely and familiar, but with fresh, new design details.

Located on the top floor of Kingly Court, the 250sqm restaurant space seats 96 covers, including a private dining room with capacity to seat 18. Occupying an L-shaped site framed by a wall of windows, upon entering guests are transported into an interior which nods in subtle and sophisticated ways to Asma’s heritage and inspiration at every touch point.

The colour palette of the intimate interior takes guests on a journey to the golden hour of India, where warm, earthy, soft tones come alive. Colours also reference key ingredients in Asma’s recipes. The walls and vaulted ceiling are lime washed in a rich, chickpea yellow, whilst beams and the exterior façade are painted a light cinnamon colour. This palette is complemented with a light lapis blue, a colour that became popular in the Northern India when the mineral began being imported from Afghanistan and was used as a synonym of sophistication in Muslim architectural details. Used sparingly on lower walls, the jewel tone not only adds a counterbalance, but references for those familiar, the recognisable blue wall conceived by A-nrd studio for the original Darjeeling Express restaurant which featured in the Netflix Chef’s Table series.

Having an open kitchen was key to the brief set by Asma. A-nrd wanted to ensure that the woman preparing the food were the star of the interior and could be seen and greeted by every customer. Locating this centrally meant a clever use of spatial planning across the space with seating arranged so that the kitchen was visible from every corner of the restaurant.

The kitchen itself was created by a central partition wall with regular openings framed with rich, dark oak counters stacked with handcrafted ceramic tableware and stoneware dishes that invite customers to lean over and peek behind the scenes. Handcrafted authentic glazed Zellige tiles in a rich amber colourway punctuate the walls in-between, whilst large opaline flower shaped wall sconces provide a soft illumination.

Inheriting furniture from previous sites, A-nrd wanted to be clever in the way it re-purposed items. With some small adjustments an old refuse cover was re-purposed here as a new reception desk. An old sideboard became a new waiter station and many tables and chairs have also been utilised in line with the studio’s sustainable approach to design.

Bistro style tables of 2 and 4 seats sit directly under the hustle and bustle the kitchen. Crafted with marble tops and featuring dark wood bistro chairs with grey upholstered fabric seat pads and rattan back rests, the mix of materials is sleek and refined. Bespoke oak and rattan sofa seating feature at larger capacity tables with richly coloured flocked paisley upholstery.

A communal sharing table located just off the kitchen is another example of A-nrd’s highly crafted approach to their bespoke furniture design. Crafted from pigmented concrete, chosen to reference one of India’s most used materials, the large sharing table features a striped terracotta and ink blue tabletop design framed by metal. Seating 10 it is complemented by dark oak chairs with upholstered fabric seat pads.
Located towards the rear of the restaurant, a linen curtain and bespoke dark oak and rattan screen designed by A-nrd conceals the private dining room.

Lining the exterior wall, window booth seating looks out across Kingly Court. With a reputation for their custom approach to furniture, here the studio has designed dark oak benches with a slatted construction and curving back which are paired with bespoke Burly wood tables, both of which were inspired by old photographs of Asma travelling on the namesake Darjeeling Express train. Upholstered backrests for comfort feature in mismatched textiles chosen by A-nrd to represent the richness of patterns found in India, with colour blocked patterns sitting side-by-side with hand stitched decorative detailing.

A curvaceous and monolithic cocktail bar with vintage effect mirrored backbar is unquestionably one of the stars of the space. This beautifully crafted bar made from solid dark oak features a scalloped front counter inspired by Mughal architectural shapes. Here, 6 sleek bar stools designed by A-nrd studio are upholstered in a soft, buttery yellow hued leather designed to complement but not distract from the feature bar.

Asma’s ancestral Havelis was particularly inspirational for A-nrd studio for the creation of the new interior; from the dark wood accents to the shape of mouldings and joinery detailing, the marble table tops and the extensive greenery which sees trailing plants in baskets hanging from beams and planting throughout around the restaurant, kitchen, and bar.

Evoking a feeling of travelling through the busy streets of Kolkata, stacks of handmade clay chai cups by ceramist Maham Anjum embellish the restaurant shelves and kitchen counters. Elsewhere, walls are adorned by photographs which are framed in small groups, forming part of series by Ming Tang-Evans, a close friend of Asma who captured moments of a trip to India the two friends shared together.

Darjeeling Express at Kingly Court has been designed by A-nrd to be an all-day dining experience with a colour and material palette that transitions seamlessly from day to night. The side windows and skylights flood the space with natural light during the day, whilst at night, the warm dimmed lighting create a cosy intimacy. The variety of seating options utilised by the studio also allows guests to come back time after time and take away a new dining experience.

In Darjeeling Express at Kingly Court, A-nrd studio have created a restaurant space which all at once feels new, fresh and familiar. Extrapolating new inspiration from Asma’s heritage and having had the privilege of knowing her for many years, A-nrd have been able to translate Asma’s unique warmth and personality successfully and authentically.

On the project, founder Alessio Nardi comments:
“We really wanted to create a space Asma would feel at home in whilst she worked and only through our connection and long-standing personal relationship with her was this possible to achieve very organically. Through a curated colour and material palette the space feels intimate and warm, and like Asma’s food, it is fresh and truly authentic. The references to India and Asma heritage are subtle yet present in the space, creating a modern dining experience with a slight retro feel that perfectly fits in to the Central London dining scene.”