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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
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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
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27/08/2014 11:11