Last Updated on July 2, 2025
Brilliant Legacy Gets a Gastropub Twist in Southall
4.0 out of 5.0 starsBack in 2020, a colleague paid a visit to Brilliant, the beloved Southall curry house known for its North Punjabi cuisine with a distinctive Kenyan flair. And, Brilliant Gastro, the restaurant we are covering here, is its successor. The story of Brilliant begins much earlier, though, back in the 1950s, when Bishen Dass Anand first opened the restaurant in Nairobi, Kenya.
After the family moved to the UK in 1973, two of Bishen’s sons, Kewal and Gulu, brought the name with them, opening a modest 30-seater version of Brilliant in Southall just two years later. Over the decades, that humble spot evolved into a local institution, seating 220 diners, launching a cookery school, and even bottling its own line of pickles and chutneys.
Now, it seems that the next chapter was already quietly taking shape. Dipna Anand, Bishen’s granddaughter and a celebrated chef in her own right, appears to have had something new on the boil. Just a five‑minute walk from the old restaurant, within Southall’s Green Quarter redevelopment, she’s launched Brilliant Gastro. This gastropub-style venture carries the family’s culinary legacy into new territory.
We arrived at Brilliant Gastro on an extremely hot evening and settled down in the sunshine on the terrace. Inside, the industrial warehouse styling looked very comfy, with leather chairs, well-spaced tables, and the central bar stocked with a great range of spirits. But, for us, outside was a welcome option. Set on the edge of a new housing development, Brilliant Gastro occupies a quiet and secluded space away from traffic.
The first part of the menu, titled ‘Bites and Beginnings’, offers the kind of grazing food I’d be happy to eat all evening when the weather is hot. We ordered three dishes from the list and would genuinely have liked to pick more.
I particularly loved the crushed samosa chaat blast, a unique take on the classic Indian street food. I suspect I may just have overindulged a bit in this delicious mix of samosa, yoghurt, pomegranate, tamarind chaat and spices.
Pani Puri are always a favourite for me, and these were spot on – though I still haven’t worked out a sensible way to eat them without ending up with the tamarind sauce dribbling down my chin. Worth the mess, though.
The Brilliant Kenya Chilli Chicken was a platter of tender, skewered chicken pieces in a fragrant, rich and lightly spiced gravy.
My Spiced Torch Robata Prawns (from the grill section of the menu) were spot on for a light main course – delicately spiced with a delicious char, they were plump and moreish. I ordered steamed rice, dal makhani, and kachumber salad to accompany the prawns, which made for an enjoyable meal that wasn’t overly filling, though the rather generous portion of dal did catch me off guard!
A somewhat braver friend ordered Dipna’s Special Meat Feast Thali, the perfect choice for any hungry carnivore. It’s a complete meal of Old Delhi butter chicken, karahi gosht, dal makhani, bhatura (chickpea curry), traditional fried Indian bread, pilau rice, papadom, and mango chutney. I believe her butter chicken was swapped out for Masala chicken, and I know she loved every mouthful, particularly enjoying the fragrant and tender karahi gosht.
The deconstructed Mandarin Cheesecake was beautiful, thankfully very light, and a fabulous combination of flavours and textures.
Gaja Ka Halwa, my own choice, was up there with the best – a sticky, sweet, fragrant pile of grated carrot that no one ever believes is made from the root vegetable because it’s so delicious.
Dipna, who was at Brilliant Gastro the night we went along, is no stranger to innovation. Alongside the new gastropub, she runs the Dipna Anand Kitchen and Bar in Milton Keynes, has an interest in The Plough, a pub in Norwood, and continues to teach cookery classes at the Southall location, keeping both tradition and experimentation firmly on the menu. Celebrity fans include Gordon Ramsay, Prince Charles and Tina Turner. We wish her all the best with her new venture.
Brilliant Gastro
1 Seva Drive,
Southall,
London,
UB1 1GH,
United Kingdom
020 8574 1928
Leave a Reply