As part of One Accessibility advocacy, we share information about disability issues, inclusion, and or accessibility features on Maps. Look out every week for this enlightening post.
Hello everyone and welcome to this week’s Accessibility Uncovered post! As you might already know, our articles this month are about Accessible restaurants near us.
As per the UK laws , since the Disability discrimination act of 1995 many steps have been taken to ensure that wheelchair users can access all public buildings in the same way as the average person who doesn’t suffer from mobility issues. Since 1999 all businesses in the UK have been told that they must make the necessary changes to their buildings to ensure that wheelchair users can access them without difficulty and since 2004 to adapt physical features. So although most of the restaurants are accessible , I am going to highlight one of my favorite accessible restaurants from one of my recent trips in Scotland ,‘Dishoom’.
Dishoom is a Bombay-inspired Indian restaurant group with locations across the UK. I recently visited their Edinburgh branch which was awarded ‘Best Restaurant Scotland, British Curry Awards’ in 2021.Dishoom Edinburgh is located on St Andrew Square and serves a lovingly curated menu of Bombay comfort food that pays homage to the old Bombay Irani cafés and first-class drinks all day, every day. Entering the restaurant made me nostalgic and miss my home city ‘Mumbai’ ! It has a strong botanical theme running through it – due to the fact that it’s inspired by the famous Scot, socialist, botanist and ecologist, Sir Patrick Geddes. The décor is opulent and rich, yet contemporary. The food , ambience and service is excellent ! The best part is that even though it’s a multi-storey restaurant , it is fully accessible.
Here are some of the accessible features of this restaurant :
- The entrance to the restaurant is wheelchair accessible , the doors open wide and is step free.
- The restaurant interior is made such that the flooring area has enough space for a wheelchair to fully roam around. So it has an accessible path.
- The restaurant is spread across three floors, all of which are easily accessible to wheelchair users by using the lift at the back of the building .
- The disabled toilet is on the lower floor of the building . It can be accessed by wheelchair users by using the lift. There is also an emergency red record in case any assistance is required.
- There are a variety of tables designed in a way that is suitable to the needs of the customer. So even the wheelchair users can enjoy having food overlooking amazing views by the window instead of the usual corner seating which is generally the case in most of the restaurants sadly.
- Disabled parking is available just outside the restaurant.
- The restaurant also has adjustable mood setting lighting seating area with no/low calming music playing in the background specially for people having sensory issues so that they can enjoy the food here without any issues.
The staff is polite , helpful and are always ready to help in case any assistance is required. Pets, kids, elderly, young , everyone is welcomed with a smile ! I would highly recommend making a reservation before you wish to visit the restaurant but just in case you forget to book and you are waiting outside the restaurant, you are served a lovely cup of Masala chai and the staff makes sure you are taken care of ! I would surely recommend this restaurant when in Edinburgh !
As a summary, here is how the Dishoom restaurant does when it comes to accessibility:
Wheelchair-accessible entrance
Wheelchair-accessible lift
Wheelchair-accessible seating
Wheelchair-accessible toilet
Braille menus
Reserved parking spots for people with disabilities
Adjustable mood lighting and low volume calming music suitable for neuro-divergent people
Here is my review of the place on Maps , you can check its amazing photos on my Maps profile. Do you know any similar restaurants in your area, or any that you know people with disabilities recommend? Let everyone know about them in the comments!
If you have a question, suggestion, or contribution, feel free to comment below. You can read last week’s roundup article here and check the list of our other articles under “Accessibility Uncovered”.
The food was so authentic desi style , I felt like I was back in my home country !