W L INTERVIEW
BBC
AN INTERVIEW WITH NISHA KATONA
Nisha Katona , founder of Mowgli Street Food restaurants , author and television presenter talks to Wirral Life in an exclusive interview .
Where did your story begin ? I was born in 1971 growing up in a village on the outskirts of Skelmersdale in Lancashire , where my parents were Indian doctors , part of a wave who came to Britain in the 1960s to take up jobs as GPs . Indian food was hard to get – turmeric was only available from a chemist , and for garlic and ginger we ’ d have to travel to Manchester . We were the only Indians in the village . My earliest memory was of a brick being thrown through the window with ‘ Paki ’ written on it . Twice a week we ’ d have firebombs thrown at us as we played in the garden . It was the norm , and it was terrifying .
I remember my mother saying that on the way to surgery someone was shouting and throwing stones at her , and then she got in and that was her first patient . Skip forward to my first work placement , and I found that prejudice still existed , just more politely expressed . After my first day , the head of chambers sent a note to my pupil mistress saying , ‘ Your pupil is female and Asian . You need to tell her she has no place at the Bar .'
I had a very happy childhood , despite the taunts , and I went on to become the first female Asian barrister in Liverpool . I think many immigrants of my generation have this kind of resilience . I sailed into a blissful 20-year career as a child protection barrister . I had security , esteem and stimulation . As an older woman , with two grown children and a busy guitarist husband at 47 years old , one wants a comfortable rut . A rut of safety and contentment . For entrepreneurs like me however something will always howl in the night .
I opened the first Mowgli back on Bold Street Liverpool in 2014 when I was still working full time as a Barrister . We expanded quickly to Manchester just a year later in 2015 and are currently working towards our 7th site due to open in Sheffield in the Autumn . Having been priced out of a local shopping centre , I began to look in the hinterlands , the bohemian districts of Liverpool and found the site and a landlord that would take a risk . The rest is history and we are pursuing our dream to become a national voice for good , home style , fresh , clean Indian food .
You were originally trained and worked for many years as a barrister , what triggered the massive , risky leap into food and becoming a restaurateur ? There was always an eddy that ran alongside my love for the law .
It should have been a silly daydream , but it became loud and bold . It related to the base matter of real Indian food which , in Britain , sits in a shrouded and misunderstood corner . I wanted to build a restaurant that was modelled on an Indian home kitchen and this swirling mission would not let me sleep . I gathered together all my savings and built my first restaurant while still working the day shift at the Bar . I would finish court and , in my suit , don a high vis and hard hat , sand floors , train chefs and plan menus .
I have always been passionate about Indian food , but not the stuff of curry houses . What is peddled in curry houses is a far cry from the way Indians actually eat at home and on their streets . Our food is actually fresh , light , delicate and extremely healthy which are not words the UK would ever associate with “ curry ”. I became a curry evangelist , and spent time giving lessons in the ancient light curry formulas of India alongside my full-time job as a barrister .
How long did it take before you thought , ' this is gonna work '? During those opening few months , I ’ d finish in court , then put on high vis and a hard hat . That ’ s the hard bit for anyone flipping careers – you do both for a while . Do not presume that you will succeed until there is evidence that you will . It was only three months in , when queues began snaking outside the restaurant , that I took the plunge . I remember the moment at which I looked around and I had this team of 30 staff who lived and breathed Mowgli , and there was me still going and doing the odd case in the morning . And that was kind of obscene .
You ' ve expanded your hugely successful concept to six restaurants so far across the UK , if you could open a Mowgli anywhere , where would be you ' re dream location ? We have many followers across the nation who are calling for the smash and grab of the Mowgli home kitchen . We are not everyone ’ s cup of tea , but we go where our consumers and followers want us . I still always immediately fall for something or hate it within two minutes . I ’ m still a new businesswoman so I need to learn , and I need to understand it better . People often mention going abroad , but my dream right now , my priority , is getting the UK right first .
Where did your love of real Indian cooking come from ? I have always been obsessed with the way nations cooked . The anthropology and social genesis of what they created and how they created it . My love of food combined with my forensic love
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