Fashion and food form a compelling mix in defining London, a city that is home to some of the most in-demand (and expensive) restaurants. But while the Michelin-starred hotel dining rooms are the biggest names in the global gastronomy, Veeraswamy and its siblings Chutney Mary, Masala Zone and Amaya prove as a reminder that there is more to eat than just tasting menus. Ranjit Mathrani, the co-owner of these restaurants in a candid conversation with Barkha Goenka talks about how he, an economist, got into the food industry and transformed London’s Indian dining scene.
By serving the regional dishes of India that are not common in the UK, prepared by chefs with culinary skills and passion for details, MW Eat has won various awards for excellence over the years. Now, it boasts of the UK’s three ‘best fine dine Indian restaurants’ (two with Michelin Star) and eight Masala Zone locations in London.
“Our domain name is the realindianfood.com and one of the reasons why we call ourselves that is because for 30 years we actually have been about bringing real Indian food to Britain,” said Ranjit Mathrani chairman and co-owner of MW Eat, the company which owns the UK's oldest restaurant Veeraswamy and a number of other well-known Indian restaurants in London.
“India is like Europe and to have a North Indian cooking South Indian food is equivalent to a Norwegian cooking Greek food."
Mathrani believes that all his Indian restaurants allow the customers to have a true Indian experience as through their food they express the diversity of the country. He takes us on a tour of his restaurant to explain how it resembles the cultural integrity and diversity of India. Watch the video below:
“We are one of the very few groups which respects the diversity and says India is a continent. India is not just a country. India has at least 16 different cuisines and as many different languages and one of our unique features as a restaurant group, and there is no other restaurant group that does it, not even in India, is that we only permit chefs from that region of India to cook that food.”
Backstory
The company MW Eat is owned by the trio: Ranjit Mathrani, his wife Namita Panjabi and sister-in-law Camellia Panjabi - adept individuals, born and brought up among the elites of Bombay (now Mumbai) in India. The triplets, where Mathrani serves as the chairman and the Panjabis as group directors, are the main force behind the UK’s award-winning restaurant group that specialises in regal and regional Indian cuisines prepared by some expert chefs.
All three went to Cambridge University for higher education and pursued successful careers before becoming restaurateurs. Namita started as a merchant banker and became a fashion merchandising manager in Bombay and moved to London in 1986 after she married Mathrani (who was then working as a director of a major merchant bank Lazards). On the other hand, Camellia was in India working as the marketing director of Taj Hotels and was an internationally renowned foodie on Indian food and author of a best-selling cookbook called 50 Great Curries of India. She created Bombay Brasserie (for Taj Group) – a pioneering Indian restaurant after the Second World War – in London in 1982 and came on board with MW Eat full-time in 2000.
Coming from a business background, Mathrani was more interested in developing a successful business and not so much in food. His first venture was Chutney Mary, which he started with his friends and his wife in 1990. While he was the chairman of the company, he was still running his own advisory business and was inclined towards the financial and business aspect. He did not focus on the restaurant group until they bought Veeraswamy in 1996, when it was about to go bankrupt.
“My involvement was raising money. My passion was not so much the food, but to create and develop a successful business as that’s my area. Out of the family expertise and as a merchant banker, I spend my time trying to harness and monetise talent. So, my job has been to harness the talent of my wife and my sister-in-law,” said the proud husband.
Camellia joined MW Eat as director in 2000 and after her full-time involvement in the company, in 2001, they set up the first of the eight informal dining group of Indian food - Masala Zone in Soho. Camellia also spearheaded the third fine dine restaurant, Amaya, which opened in Belgravia in October 2004 and won a Michelin star in 2006.
What’s on the menu?
The beauty of this group of restaurants is diversity and authenticity. While Veeraswamy adheres strictly to traditional and regional recipes, they take the liberty to add pizazz and be creative in presenting the street food of India.
“Veeraswamy is about the gourmet food from the palaces of India as well as the street food taken to a new level. There’s a galaxy of food and you can choose invariably from them,” said Mathrani.
The co-owner further talked about the unusual starters at the restaurant: "One of our rare specialities is the Raj Kachori (an oversized wheat puri filled with snacks, containing yogurt, tamarind, splashed with chutneys and herbs) which was first done for the royalty in Rajasthan, India and the chef there made it about ten times the size of a normal puri and created into this type of dish and obviously, as it was larger it was full of very exotic interesting combination of vegetables and yogurt with tamarind.”
