Dhamroo — South Indian Restaurant, Headington

Dhamroo is a South Indian restaurant on London Road in Headington, specialising in coastal and Malabar-inspired cooking, a regional focus that sets it apart from the more generic “Indian restaurant” format found in many UK towns. Alongside Acropolis Greek Taverna, it’s one of only two restaurants in this guide independently confirmed to be genuinely located in Headington, after several commonly cited “best of Headington” restaurants turned out to actually sit elsewhere in the city.

The restaurant describes itself as “smart casual”: a cosy indoor dining room paired with a heated al-fresco terrace on London Road, giving guests the option of outdoor seating for at least part of the year without needing to rely on it. That combination makes it flexible for both a quiet weeknight dinner indoors and a more relaxed outdoor meal when weather allows.

South Indian and Malabar-region menus are typically strong on vegetarian dishes as a general feature of the cuisine, but this wasn’t independently confirmed for Dhamroo’s specific menu, so it would be a mistake to assume comprehensive vegetarian, vegan, or gluten-free coverage without checking directly. Customer reviews describe the restaurant as “very reasonably priced,” though no restaurant-stated price band was published, so this should be treated as a general impression rather than a precise figure.

Service follows a somewhat uneven weekly pattern worth noting before planning a visit: Monday and Tuesday are dinner-only, from 5:30 to 10pm, while Wednesday through Saturday cover both lunch and dinner from midday to 10pm, and Sunday runs a slightly shorter midday-to-9:30pm slot. Anyone hoping for a Headington lunch early in the week should be aware that Dhamroo won’t be open for it on Monday or Tuesday.

No awards were found independently for Dhamroo. Its appeal rests on being a genuinely distinctive, regionally specific South Indian option in an area of Oxford with relatively few standout independent restaurants, and the heated terrace gives it a practical edge for outdoor dining across more of the year than an indoor-only restaurant could offer. For visitors comparing it against Oxford’s more numerous city-centre and Cowley Road Indian restaurants, Dhamroo’s specific Malabar and coastal focus (rather than a broad, all-purpose Indian menu) is arguably its clearest point of differentiation, alongside its comparatively rare Headington location. The uneven weekly schedule is worth planning around rather than treating as a minor detail, since a spontaneous early-week lunch visit specifically will not be possible.