Asma Khan has relaunched her Darjeeling Express as a pop-up in a Kensington pub while she looks for a new permanent site, having closed last month after less than two years in Covent Garden.

The restaurant opened this week in its temporary siding at the Pembroke, almost next door to the Troubadour in the Old Brompton Road, where it will stay to the end of November. Asma warned that it has only 30 covers – down from 120 in Covent Garden – and will not open every day, so diners will need to book.

The latest move is something of a return journey for a business that made its name with a a pub residency – in the Sun & 13 Cantons in Soho – having started out as a home-based supper club based around dishes from Asma’s own family and the street food of Calcutta, where she grew up. The 2022 Harden’s guide praised its “home-style but brilliantly flavoursome concoctions”.

Before closing her Covent Garden premises, Asma said she is looking for new premises with an open kitchen to display the skills of her all-female kitchen team.

“The real stars of the show are my women in the kitchen. At the moment we are in a kitchen which is in the basement, which is true for most West End places… [But] we are the only Indian restaurant in the world with a female founder and an all-female kitchen… I need to show them off because they are my pride and joy“.