Tandoori June/July | Page 10

news Sree Krishna celebrates 40th anniversary One of London's longstanding Indian vegetarian restaurants, Sree Krishna, in Tooting, celebrated its 40th anniversary to great fanfare. With the restaurant packed to the hilt and joined by the mayor of Wandsworth, guests listened to various speeches from the owner's family and tucked into a buffet lunch comprising of such mouthwatering dishes as masala dosa, malai and saffron chicken tikka, and mixed vegetable pakoras for starters along with mains featuring the likes of dum ka murgh and kadahi paneer. Launched in 1973, under a then different owner, the restaurant has expanded from an initial 20 seater establishment to what is now a 100 seater place. Its current owner-manager Pravin Pillai, said: "I never would have imagined that Sree Krishna would last that long and one be celebrating 40 years of business. This is particularly the case when you think of the current economic crisis. It's a testament to the loyalty of our customers who have kept us going so long and their generous support. In this day and age, restaurants come and go but we continue to be on an upward trajectory." Wrapchic to expand to more commercial areas in the UK Wrapchic Indian burrito company, the innovative food brand that combines light Indian curries served in the Mexican fast food style of burritos and tacos, is seeking to expand to several hundred sites around the UK. Initially launching in Birmingham last year and located between Birmingham’s business district and the House of Fraser building, Wrapchic's bold and bright imagery mixed with Mexican branding, caught the imagination of locals, not to mention their desire to try burritos such as mutton Hyderabadi and chicken Chettinad. Late last year, Wrapchic expanded to three university sites, DeMontfort in Leicester, Coventry and Roehampton, where a student crowd presented the company with healthy business opportunities. Mahesh Raikar, whose brainchild has turned out to be a success, is now seeking to expand his company into sites across the UK populated with office workers, shoppers and students with a busy lunchtime and weekend trade. He is currently in discussions with a large multinational for backing. Michelin and Livebookings team up Picture of Deepinder Goyal 10 T A N D O O R I Michelin has announced a partnership with online reservations company Livebookings that will include the restaurant guide creating a new UK website to allow diners to instantly book tables at venues across the country. Michelin is looking to recruit many bookable restaurants in all key European markets. Michelin Travel Partner chief executive Alain Cuq said: “Livebookings’ proven, innovative technology is ultimately placed to provide the scale and flexibility we need to propose new value-added services to the restaurants and expand into new markets.” The Michelin Restaurants UK website will launch later this year, fully integrated with Livebookings’ reservation and booking technology. Speaking on the investment of Michelin into the booking company, Livebookings chief executive Colin Tenwick said, “The investment from Michelin means that we can continue to invest and develop our platform – we will be doubling the size of our sales force within the next two years.” The service provided by Livebookings not only allows customers to book a table in advance, but also to manage those reservations, as well as collec