If women aim to become something in life then they must be ready to accept any and all challenges to make their dreams come true. One woman who has done just that is the immensely successful London based Indian restaurant and business owner Asma Khan.
Asma Khan ( Instagram A/c – darjeelingldn ) was born in Calcutta and moved to Cambridge in 1991. She spent most of her childhood days in Calcutta, Hyderabad and Madras (Chennai). Food was always central to all occasions in her family. Her mother had a food business in Calcutta for many years and she would spend a lot of time with her in the kitchen. She realised food was her calling and after she finished her PhD in Law, she started hosting supper clubs in her home. After 4 years she moved to a pop-up in Soho which eventually led her to the restaurant that she has now.
1.) Tell us about your restaurant Darjeeling Express.
Asma – The restaurant is staffed by an all-female kitchen. The location is very beautiful - it is on the second floor above a beautiful courtyard called Kingly Court, which is between Piccadilly Circus and Oxford Street. We opened our doors at the end of June 2017. It is a small restaurant and we serve a very compact menu which we change every few months.
2.) What challenges did you face when starting your restaurant business?
Asma – The main challenge was raising the money. I was very fortunate to get a loan by NatWest (RBS). Darjeeling Express was a project I had nurtured and built up over the years my husband stepped in and gave me the remaining money to open the restaurant. Once we opened we had the usual drama of gas cutting out and the occasional hiccups all new restaurants face using new equipment! I had a terrible experience with my initial front of house and managers who I removed, and now I have an all-female management team who understands the ethos of the kitchen and are very supportive to me.
3.) What makes Darjeeling Express restaurant different from other restaurants in London?
Asma – I guess the all-female kitchen is the main difference. We serve traditional family recipes. The emphasis is also on regional Indian dishes and not generic restaurant food that you find in a lot of Indian restaurants.
4.) How did the idea to make an all woman team of housewives to run the kitchen come about?
Asma – The team began working with me in my supper club days from 2012 and once we got the restaurant they all continued to stay by my side. It seemed the most natural thing to run a restaurant with the same women who I had known and worked with before, we had a close bond of trust.
5.) Which is your favourite dish from your restaurant?
Asma – At the moment the Calcutta Chicken chaap is my favourite dish on the menu.
6.) Please share something about your book “Asma’s Indian Kitchen”
Asma – The book was meant to have been written the year before but as is always the case I ended up writing the book at the same time as I was opening the restaurant. I worked all day at the restaurant and wrote the book at night! I really enjoyed writing the book and the publishers I worked with were very supportive and did not pressurise me to write in any style or suggest the kind of recipes they thought would sell the book. I had total freedom.
7.) What’s the most popular dish of your restaurant?
Asma - The Bengali goat curry Kosha Mangsho with Puri (Luchi).
9.) Does the menu of the restaurant keep on changing? If so in what ways?
Asma – We change the menu to incorporate British seasonal vegetables and also the weather. In summer (it can get very warm in London) we have dahivada and in winter we have much richer and warming dishes.
I would like to thank Asma Khan on behalf of Asian World Newspaper for giving her Interview and wish you all the best for your future endeavours.
