The great Indian experience
‘Veeraswamy’, Britain’s oldest Indian restaurant, is known for the beauty
of its rooms, slick service and appealing dishes, writes K R N Swamy
The first Indian “curry house” opened in London in 1809, called ‘The Hindostanee Coffee House’, run by Deen Mohammad from Bihar. Deen Mohammad, a former East India Company soldier himself offered his patrons - mainly British veterans returning from India “the hookha, with real chilum tobacco and Indian dishes called by the greatest epicures to be unequalled to any curry made in England”. But the venture collapsed in two years and Deen Mohammad went bankrupt.
In 1926 there was only one Indian restaurant in London and six in the whole of the United Kingdom. The Indian population of mere 3,000 in the whole country did not warrant more “curry houses”. But in 2001 there are 8,500 to cater to a population of nearly two million from the sub-continent. And the only restaurant of 1926 - ‘Veeraswamy’ is still there, the oldest Indian restaurant in U K & Europe, proud that it has completed 75 years of presenting Indian cuisine to the Western world. Situated on Regent Street, in the heart of London’s West End, ‘Veeraswamy’ has, over the years played host to personages as Edward VIII the Prince of Wales, King Gustav of Sweden, Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Charlie Chaplin and Marlon Brando. The only Indian notable who had not dined here was Mahatma Gandhi.
Many exotic reasons are claimed for naming the establishment as Veeraswamy. It was said - (as explained in the menu card of ‘Veeraswamy’) “Veeraswamy, rendezvous of royalty, the famous and other lovers of Indian food, is a romantic story of East meets West. It was created in 1926 by Edward Palmer (1860-1947), a great grandson of an English General and a north Indian Mughal Princess”…
Palmer seems to have been at a loss as to what to name his restaurant and then it struck him that Veeraswamy, a common enough name in South India, as Macintoshes are in Scotland, would give the necessary flavour to his enterprise.
One historian claims that it was named after Princess Veera, mother of Edward Palmer. But rummaging through the archives of the famous India office Library in London, I found that there was one E B Veeraswamy, advisor to the Government of India (1925) on Indian cuisine and Founder of Veeraswamy Foods (1896), more than a century ago. He had published books on Indian cuisine by Arco Publications of London. Somewhere in 1925 he did start a restaurant named after himself, and soon after his demise Palmer seemed to have taken over the venture.
Any how ‘Veeraswamy’ prospered, and till a rival restaurant “The Shafie’s” started in early 1930’s, ‘Veeraswamy’ was the only known Indian cafe in London. “With swishy curtains, arched ceilings, turbanned waiters and a bedecked hostess”, the establishment captivated the British society. It survived the World War II and in the 1950’s the onrush of immigrants from the sub-continent gave a fillip to its business. Soon it was reduced to one - but important - among the hundreds of Indian/ Pakistani/ Bangladeshi lunchrooms that flourished in the UK.
In 1997 Namita Punjabi, a famous caterer, bought the ‘Veeraswamy’ and gave this old institution a face lift. This move was dogged with controversy and in her words, ”We offended a number of Britishers (in revamping ‘Veeraswamy’), who were used to the old colonial style… However we got terrific appreciation for the food. Atleast six types of Indian cuisine are catered for”…
By now the situation in UK had changed. The Indian curry was no longer strange and in fact the Chicken Tikka Masala (known as CTM) had become the national dish. Nearly a sixth of London’s restaurants offer Indian cuisine and overall the UK Indian food industry has annual sales which approach pounds 3 billion (Rs 21,000 crore). In places like Bradord there is one curry restaurant for every 2,000 persons and in London one for every 7,900. An Indian PR company in London called Media Moguls wants the word “curryholic” to be included in the Oxford English Dictionary. One in four in Britain have a curry atleast once a week.
BBC’s Food & Drinks programme highlighted ‘Veeraswamy’ as serving real Indian food. But the real accolade was from Time Out - the magazine devoted to cuisine in UK. “From a chintzy salon overlooking Regent street - the ‘Veeraswamy’ has become bright, colourful and stylish. It could easily be mistaken for a modern European restaurant. This impression is reinforced by well drilled, multicultural waiting staff and the carefully chosen wine list. Formula curries have been eschewed for recipes collected from around the sub-continent.”
The lunch/ dinner at ‘Veeraswamy’ costs around British pounds 35 (Rs 2,250) per head. One of the favourite non-veg items, Malabar lobster curry at 16.50 pounds (1,150), and vegetarian gucchi biriyani at 13.50 pounds (Rs 980). A plain naan costs 1.75 pounds (Rs 125) and Idli-sambhar 6.25 pounds (Rs 440). There is a set lunch and “pre and post theatre” menu of pounds 12 (Rs 840) for two courses, pounds 14.75 (1,050) for three courses and Sunday brunch for pounds 15 (Rs 1,050) (Advice to the diner - the Lunch is better than the Dinner).
‘Veeraswamy’ costs more than double the price of dining in the pedestrian “curry houses” that teem UK. But the ambience of this 75-year-old establishment, the beauty of the rooms, the slick service and appealing dishes give a greater sense of luxury than what any number of free poppadoms ever can.