For Akhtar Islam, cooking is a process of discovery. Every dish on the extensive tasting menu at his two-Michelin-starred restaurant, Ovimis the result of years of curiosity and culture, and is something you can taste in every course. The restaurant, a peaceful oasis off a busy street in central Birmingham, serves a wide range of Indian cuisine across 10 dishes, from Delhi’s aloo tok to a West Bengal-inspired fish stew called amla tok.
Rather than focusing on a specific region, as many Indian restaurants do, Ovim tells the story of a British chef who grew up in a multicultural city with immigrant parents. Islam, 46, has spent his entire career exploring the possibilities of Indian flavours, ingredients and traditions.
“My parents are from Bangladesh and West Bengal, and I had delicious cultures that I grew up with and understood,” he tells the Observer, speaking from the dining room of his casual restaurant in London. Oud 1722which opened in April. “But I was also able to experience more, which led me to be curious about cooking from other parts of India and the Indian diaspora. My style and understanding of Indian food is very broad and diverse.”
Islam grew up in the Aston area of Birmingham, a diverse neighborhood near a football stadium. His parents owned a restaurant, India Palace, but his mother often watched the long-running BBC Two cooking show Food and drink He copied the recipes, which means that Islam learned more than just Indian cuisine. His neighbors would also swap dishes, exposing the chef to food from around the world.
“We got a little bit of everything,” he says. “People ask why there is such a wide range of cooking at Ovim, and that’s because I’m a Burmese, born and bred. I don’t really have any cultural connections or prejudices. I enjoy everything just as much.”
Since then, Islam has eagerly studied Indian culinary traditions and cooking methods. He has built a library of hundreds of books, some of which are on display in the Opheim Gallery, while others are housed in his home or in the test kitchen downstairs. But much of his knowledge comes from first-hand experience. He travels a lot and always spends time cooking with locals, hence the nuance.
“They’re great recipes to read, but it’s even better when you cook with someone from that part of the world and explain certain things to them,” he says. “Books are great because they’re realistic – everything is in black and white. But with Indian food, the recipes are guidelines. They’re about the way you cook and the interactions that happen in the pan or with the spices. It’s a very personal thing. To cook alongside someone and listen to their stories, you get the full gist of what they’re trying to do.”
Islam started cooking as a teenager. At the age of thirteen, he worked in his parents’ restaurant and later branched out to other restaurants throughout the Midlands region of England. He opened his first restaurant in his 20s, but it wasn’t until his debut in 2018 that Islam hit his stride as a chef. The sleek, modern space (a former nightclub) served as the perfect forum to showcase his take on Indian dishes, regardless of the region. It was an opportunity to put his vision at the forefront of his work.
“I remember being 13 or 14 years old and being very stubborn,” he says. “When I started cooking, I was trying to tell the older curry chefs what to do. Early on, I realized that what we considered Indian food in England wasn’t real Indian food. We have this model of British curry houses, but the dishes there had little to do with radical recipes or radical inspiration. I wanted to fight that standard.”
These older chefs usually told Islam to shut up and continue chopping onions. “I was sitting there muttering to myself: ‘One day I’ll show you,’” he says. “I’ve spent most of my life learning and then teaching people and trying to encourage the curry industry to join this journey with me. And this journey isn’t always about moving forward. “It’s about looking back to the past and to our roots.”
Opheem was awarded its first Michelin star in 2019, becoming the first Indian restaurant in the UK outside London to do so. “It was a great moment,” Islam recalls. “This has been something I’ve worked for my whole life [former] Restaurants, I’ve shared with other people who have a lot of opinions. Someone told me: No one wants your fancy dishes. With Oviem, I can do whatever I want to do, regardless of anyone’s opinion. Plus, I recruited a really young team, so when I got the star, I did it with a group of 19-year-olds.
In 2024, Opheim received a second star, becoming the first Birmingham restaurant to receive this honour. Although Islam has not specifically stated whether he is aiming for a third star, it is clear from Opheem’s experience that he and his team – now grown – are operating at an elite level. The service is meticulous, the experience is refined but not stuffy, and the dishes reflect years of detailed sophistication. Some dishes, such as Orkney scallops and aloo tok, have been constant on the menu, constantly being tweaked to near perfection. Other dishes change with the seasons – I served an asparagus dish beautifully in late May and it had already been replaced by a tomato dish by mid-June.
The fish broth, enhanced with Cornish sea bass and gooseberries, initially seems like an unusual dish. The taste of the slightly tart, fruity gravy was unparalleled in any Indian restaurant. But Islam says it’s actually one of the most traditional dishes he makes.
“People look at us and say we’re so progressive, which we are, and they assume the mainstream curry house is the most authentic,” he says. “But actually, Ovim is more authentic than any of those. This broth is cooked exactly as it is in a house in a village somewhere in Bangladesh. All we do is improve it by removing some of the impurities and increasing the flavor of acidity, umami, etc..”
“In India, would they take a six-kilo bass and dry it for a week in a salt aging chamber? No, they wouldn’t. But that’s the difference between us and them. But ultimately it’s about the flavour. What you have is the purest distillation of that flavour,” he adds.
Opheim’s journey ends with a reference to Birmingham rather than India. One of the desserts is titled “After Eight,” a reference to the British chocolate often served at the end of a restaurant meal. When Islam worked on Stratford Road, in an area known as Birmingham’s Balti Triangle, as a teenager, guests would often leave the hotel with an After Eight in hand. His version is much more elegant and complex, but has the same chocolate and mint flavour.
“It’s an ode to that time and that part of my life experience,” he says. “I wanted to reference the Birmingham traditions that have informed and influenced how I cook and what I cook.”
If Ovem is a personal exploration of Indian cooking, Oud 1722 is the result of a personal interest. The restaurant showcases the Islamic interpretation of Awadhi tradition, a historic cuisine from Lucknow inspired by Persian, Mughal and Central Asian influences. Islam has had many opportunities over the years to expand Ovim or open restaurants elsewhere, but has generally resisted. Oud 1722 is something else entirely.
“I always wanted Offem to be a completely unique place in the world,” he says. “It is food that comes from my heart, and will not be replicated anywhere else. At Oudh, it is food that is dear to me from a culture I revere, and I serve it in my dialect. In Europe, people always gravitate towards classic French as the best. In India, it’s the same with Lucknow.”
It features familiar dishes like biryani and curries, as well as lesser-known dishes like galawat, a finely chopped kebab that literally melts in your mouth. Islam describes the kebab, which was invented in the 18th century, as historically “the pinnacle of decadence and sophistication.”
“Nawab [Wajid Ali Shah] “I wanted to be able to enjoy all the flavors of the meat, but you don’t even have to chew it,” he says. “So you end up with this soft, silky, slightly smoky kebab with all the aromatic spices — it has 32 spices. To do it honestly and to do it right takes a lot of work and a lot of tradition. To be able to do that is pretty amazing.”
Islam’s latest interest is Indian tribal cooking, a style of cuisine rarely tried outside India. “Native tribes [in India] “They’re still probably the largest collection in the world,” he says. “And that’s something I’m looking into now because I want to know more. It’s great to learn about the royal court and the delicate side of cooking, but to fully understand something, you have to be able to look at everything from every possible angle.”
For Islam, it is important to differentiate between these styles for diners and celebrate the differences across the country. “It still falls under one slogan, but I want to try to break it down more,” he says.
After becoming a chef, Islam lacked a real mentor. He was primarily self-taught, although he admits that Gordon Ramsay gave him a lot of valuable advice. The chef appeared in the Channel 4 series Ramsay, F word, In 2010, it was a pivotal moment in his career. “It unleashed my potential,” Islam recalls. “He made me look at food and myself completely differently. He told me, ‘If you believe in it and invest in it and really put in the effort, you can make it happen.'”
This is the advice Islam is now passing on to his team and to other chefs in the UK. Since the success of Ovim, many other luxurious interpretations of Indian cuisine have emerged, e.g London Babyappeared. He encourages chefs to not only do their own research, but also to find their own voices.
“I have always been a very supportive person for anyone who wants to improve themselves,” Islam says. “What people get lost in is looking at what we do and thinking they can replicate it without fully investing in the cuisine and understanding it. I’ve seen restaurants all over the country emulating us, but a few times I’ve had to say to them: ‘You have to start serving food that represents you.’ Be on your own journey.” I know that if you make food that represents you, you will reap success.
“I’ve been doing this for a long time now,” he adds of his potential legacy. “I think I’ve been able to help the cuisine mature, and help the cuisine that I love and respect start its next stage of the journey.”
To do this, Islam played the long game, always indulging his curiosity. His long-standing sense of discovery means there is always something new to learn and always another dish to create.
