http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=WS4SOQDMUGSEACRBAE0CFFA
By Marie-Louise Gumuchian LONDON (Reuters) - Phil Burch is halfway through the eight pints of beer he says he needs to enjoy the country's most popular cuisine. When pubs shut their doors just after 11 p.m. Burch, and thousands like him, will complete a typical night out by staggering up the road to wash down all that beer with a hybrid Anglo-Indian mix of foods that most Britons call "curry". "There is only one place to head to after the pubs have shut and that's for a curry," said Burch. "The most important thing is to have eight pints before you go, then the hotter the curry the better. It's an English tradition." Britain has come a long way since its first Indian restaurant, the Hindustani Coffee House, opened in 1809 and now a former chief executive of a famous fish and chip shop chain and a famed Bollywood songstress believe it is time to take the next step in the Indian food evolution. Eating a "curry" or what most often passes for Indian-style food is about as far as one can get from the stereotypical image of a nation with a steady diet of greasy fish and chips, overcooked beef and watery vegetables. It would probably come as a surprise to the proprietor of that first Indian food hotspot that dishes like chicken tikka masala have gone on to become more ubiquitous on the streets of London than the traditional English fare so often panned by connoisseurs from food-mad countries like France and Italy. Such a longstanding fondness for Indian food has convinced Indian singer Asha Bhosle and restauranteur Russell Scott to create the first British chain of upmarket Indian restaurants. Most curry houses are independently owned, the majority of them by Bangladeshi immigrants. Many of these family owned shops rely on recipes for such dishes as rogan josh and biryani that have been adapted for British tastes. Scott and Bhosle aim to shatter the ingrained perceptions about Indian food by serving authentic Mumbai (Bombay) cuisine in stylish surroundings at a host of outlets across the country. "There are a lot of pasta chains out there but we don't have an Indian restaurant chain," Scott said, "The U.K market is ready to move on from the traditional fare." Scott is searching for their first venue and hopes to launch a number of restaurants over five years. BRIMFUL OF ASHA He and Bhosle aim to teach consumers that Indian restaurants are not just late night liquor licenses with food and that curry doesn't have to be eaten alongside flagons of beer in a shopfront restaurant decorated with vividly embossed wallpaper. Bhosle, who already has restaurants in Kuwait and Dubai, will provide her name, the decor, music and a rich menu of authentic northwest Indian cuisine to tempt patrons away from the Bengali-inspired dishes that dominate British curry houses. The two entrepreneurs are also hoping the popularity of the 71-year-old singer, who was the muse for the 1997 hit pop song "Brimful of Asha" will be a lure for emigre Indians. "Indian food has many different tastes and the spices need to be experienced at leisure," Bhosle said, adding that particular attention would be paid to vegetarian dishes. Beer, a staple at the curry house, will be served but more exotic drinks such as cucumber lemonade will also be on the menu. "These restaurants are not aimed at people who want a cheap curry and beer," Scott said. The challenge is whether they can tempt the taste buds of Britons, who have been developing a passion for the current brand of Anglo-Indian food since the 17th century, when English merchants began bringing spices, foods and fashions back from the subcontinent on a grand scale. The Food Standards Agency said in its 2003 "Curry Factfile" that 2.5 million consumers tuck into "an Indian" every week and that the industy as a whole is worth some 3.2 billion pounds. Some 23 million portions of chicken tikka masala are eaten each year and it is estimated there are more Indian restaurants in London than in Delhi and Bombay. Development manager Stuart Osborne and his fellow late night diners have come to London's Brick Lane, the self-styled curry capital of Britain, for a fix of the hot and spicy. After negotiating a street chock-a-block with Bangladeshi curry houses and running a gauntlet of owners who stand outside their shops wooing the passing trade, they are finally ensconced around a table crammed with metal bowls, Indian music sighing loudly in the background. As they tuck into dishes filled with lurid red and orange delicacies, steaming naan bread and glasses of beer, Osborne offers some advice on what attracts him to Indian food. "It's sweaty food. It soaks up the alcohol. The spicier the better," he said.
