South Indian Flavours in London

Baker Street runs along south of Regents Park and this beautiful upright road meets Oxford Street in roughly 2.5 km. As usual, new year started off with plenty of road works, this time due to the expansion of prevailing one-way into two-way traffic and it’s a busy thoroughfare with local residents and visitors alike. Even then, there’s hardly any disruption for the high volume of tourist flow, especially to Madame Tussauds and Sherlock Holmes' gallery.

Together they make Baker Street one of the most famous streets in central London. There are plenty of cafes as you get closer to Portman Square, but hardly any good restaurants other than Royal China, so it’s less interesting as an eating out destination.

Obviously there’s a crunch in restaurant business across the country since last year. At the same time, new restaurants spring up within London every so often. Indian food industry seems to have gained a new momentum as aspiring groups with new ideas and large financial backup have entered the market. Furthermore, it’s exciting to see a recent interest for South Indian street food and coastal cuisine in most of the newly opened restaurants in town. Walking along Baker Street with my friend Giovanny, we spotted a new place called ‘Ooty’, very close to Royal China and JKS group’s award-winning restaurant ‘Trishna’ on Blandford Street.

Named after the iconic hill station in Tamil Nadu, Ooty has a smart dining room and an exclusive South Indian menu to justify the name. Head Chef Manmeet Singh Bali has skilfully and imaginatively designed the menu, with an effort to include specialities from every corner of South India. Among the dishes on the menu, Giovanny was keen to try Keralan Lime Lobster and Telicheri Pepper Duck, and I was fascinated with Chettinad Dosa and Bagar Baingan. After the menu planning outside, we couldn’t get a table in the main dining area as they were fully booked for Saturday lunch.

We were welcomed to the Ooty club downstairs instead to have a drink and wait for a table. It was a sweet cosy room and friendly waitresses happily talked about the whole concept of the restaurant. Apparently the owners have fond memories of their childhood holidays in South India and wanted to recreate the flavours they enjoyed during those days.

There’s a third segment for the restaurant called the ‘Ooty Station’ which will be open upstairs in the summer where they will serve casual meals and all-day light snacks. Ooty is another wonderful addition to London’s quality Indian eateries and fills that big potential gap around Baker Street area.

Even though South Indian food has been around for sometime in London, it has never been an attractive trend like what we have seen in the last few years. This could be the beginning of a new change as people are increasingly aware of quality and variety of Indian food. Another significant change is the growth of Chennai’s famous dosa chain ‘Saravana Bhavan’ in every Asian area. And they seem to do extremely well as people love classic masala dosa.

At a time when food delivery systems have already damaged many of the average and some fine dining restaurants, it’s a positive sign to see these modern eateries and the way they have established in this competitive market with style and flair.

From the super success period of the 90s, Indian food industry was looking a bit weak and this new trend will give chefs and restaurant operators plenty to think about and capture the fresh opportunity. Unlike in the past, it’s not going to be easy to open a food joint with sheer passion and good food. A sense of the market trend and sound funding resource could make things easy.
The author runs the London-based Rasa chain of restaurants