After being known as someone from the airline industry, former IndiGo president and whole time director, and now a promoter of the soon-to-be launched ultra-low cost airline Akasa, Aditya Ghosh also wants to be known as the owner of speciality restaurants.
A chance introduction by former President Pranab Mukherjee to Anjan Chatterjee, who has been running a catering business with a host of speciality restaurants including Oh! Calcutta and Mainland China, led to a fruitful friendship and partnership between Ghosh and Chatterjee. The result is a new Bengali cuisine restaurant in London – Chourangi.
Says Ghosh who has known Chatterjee for a decade: “I used to be in IndiGo at the time, and Pranab Babu felt that two Bengalis with some business acumen and an entrepreneurial spirit should meet.” Ghosh adds that he had met Mukherjee when he was Union Finance Minister and kept in touch till the end. The former President passed away in August last year.
Located in the heart of London, just off Oxford Street and a 2 minute walk from Marble Arch and Hyde Park, Chourangi - which opened on October 7, 2021 - can seat 100 diners, including both indoor and outdoor seating.
Among the dishes on offer are Bengal’s favourite prawn and crab parcels, tiger prawn cutlets, slow roasted kosha lamb and Calcutta lamb shank biryani. The other Bengali favourites - aam achar hilsa, lal murgi and banana flower croquettes - also form a part of the menu.
According to co-promoter Chatterjee, who is chairman and managing director of Speciality Restaurants Limited, which besides India also has restaurants in places like Dhaka, since the food belongs to the city of Kolkata, “we picked a name that evoked memories of that city”. Chatterjee adds that since “Chowringhee is registered as a ‘geographical name’, so we couldn’t use that. Hence, we called it ‘Chourangi’”.
Chatterjee says that while the concept and essence of Chourangi continues to be from the DNA of Kolkata, “Aditya and myself decided that we will give it a new identity and make a contemporary version of the food of Calcutta in the form and content to have Oh! Calcutta version 2.0”.
Adds Ghosh, “While the flavours are similar and original, we have introduced many dishes to suit the palate of Londoners who are extremely cosmopolitan and are exposed to some of the finest cuisines of the world. Having said that, we have kept our food as honest and authentic as possible.”
To retain authentic tastes and flavours, some of the main chefs are from Kolkata while others in the kitchen and in customer services are from other parts of India, and from UK, Spain and Romania.
Special efforts are also made to ensure that the spices are authentic Bengali ones, though some of the ingredients are sourced locally.
While Chatterjee is someone who comes with experience in the hospitality business, according to him, Ghosh, “an ardent foodie and chef at heart”, contributes in more than one way in the areas of marketing, corporate governance and of course human resource development.
According to the two promoters of Chourangi, picking London as the launch pad for their new venture was a natural choice. “The cities of London and Calcutta have hundreds of years of history intertwined with each other. The food from the city of Calcutta is complex and highly evolved and yet, there wasn’t a single restaurant in London dedicated to this cuisine. We saw that gap as a business opportunity,” Ghosh says.
According to Chatterjee, once Chourangi (London) is established, “we would be looking at an expansion within the city of London for another Chourangi. Apart from this we are looking at destinations like US, Singapore and the Gulf”.
The ultimate aim? Making Chourangi a flagship brand which represents Indian cuisine all over the world.
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