Malaysian residency takes the kitchen at a Paddington hotel

Hakeem and Zura Ahmad are running Duda Diner out of the kitchen at The Pilgrm, the hotel at 25 London Street in Paddington.

The residency runs from 17 September to late December. Reported dishes include nasi lemak and kerabu salad.

Hotel kitchen residencies have become a standard route into London for cooks without the capital for their own site. The hotel gets a reason for people to come in who would not otherwise; the cook gets a working kitchen and a fixed run without a lease.

It also means the food is invisible in the food hygiene register under its own name, because the premises is registered to the hotel. That is true of most residencies and pop-ups, and it is why official data alone will never give you a full picture of where London is eating.