Tandoori Sep/Oct 2014 | Page 9

news The Ambrette Opens In Canterbury Dev Biswal, chef patron of The Ambrette award-winning restaurants in Margate and Rye, has launched The Ambrette @ Canterbury. The TV chef, who champions a ‘curry-free menu’ of south Indian style dishes utilising locally sourced seasonal ingredients with a modern twist, has taken over the site of the former Beer Cart Arms and moved from Ramsgate to Canterbury as a more central, 100-cover location, to his growing operations. The site is bigger in size than both Ramsgate and Rye. “Canterbury is a fantastic historic town with a great food heritage and perfect demographics for my style of cooking,” said Biswal, “We have over 2,000 people on our customer database with a Canterbury postcode who have already made the trip to the restaurants in Margate or Rye. One of the things we certainly plan to explore is all-day dining with an Indian accent and offer breakfast and afternoon teas,” he added. Biswal had been looking for suitable premises to open a restaurant in the cathedral city after three successful pop up restaurant events held at the Kent & Canterbury Club in October in 2012. Canterbury will also serve as a training and development site, with centralised production of marinades and sauces, to ensure consistently high standards across the group, as operations expand. Biswal hopes to open a fourth restaurant, somewhere between Canterbury and Margate specialising in seafood and vegetarian cooking, with the emphasis on gluten and allergen free foods. The chef has also set his sights on locations in Sevenoaks, Tunbridge Wells, Brighton and London. The two existing Ambrette restaurants are recommended by all the leading guides including Michelin, AA, Waitrose Good Food and Harden’s. Indian Platform steams ahead with new site It’s been a mere few months after opening in Glasgow’s West End, but the founders behind The Indian Platform restaurant have opened a second restaurant in the rapidly expanding chain – The Indian Platform 2 (Southside) – in Newton Mearns, just outside of Glasgow. The owners have transformed the former Ivy India Restaurant on Ayr Road into The Indian Platform 2 (Southside) with the 130 cover eatery, including a 150 seat function room and a 50 seat rivate suite, benefitting from a fresh makeover to bring it up to the standards of the Indian Platform branding. A new menu includes an extensive tandoori selection, including such dishes as: murgh tikka, tandoori jhinga and tandoori machi. House specialities include murgh palakdaar, roshan lal, ginger chicken and saag keema mutter; karahi king prawns, lamb rogan josh, machi masala and www.tandoorimagazine.com 009_TM_Jun_Jul14_News.indd 9 south Indian chilli garlic chicken. Former Scottish Asian Business woman of the Year Nasreen Aksi, co-founder of the Indian Platform brand alongside Chetan Parmar, said: “The opening of our second Indian Platform restaurant just four months after the launch of the brand, signals our intention to go full steam ahead with our fast track growth plans. “The Indian Platform 2 (Southside) is a new familyfriendly restaurant for Glasgow’s southside, offering both buffet and a la carte menus, with a large function room and private suite allowing us to cater for a range of social and business occasions.” Set apart from the main dining area, The Indian Platform 2 (Southside) features an upstairs chef’s table offering an exclusive, fine dining o tion where head chef Neeraj Dhatwalia presents his tasting menu and offers individually prepared dishes to diners to suit their unique tastes. September/October 2014 2014 // T A N D O O R I 9 27/08/2014 11:11