Cckney Crry

Slow Roast, Bangla style
‘‘London now has as cosmopolitan a choice of restaurant offerings as New York, but ironically, British cooking does not feature as strongly here in the way that American food does over there. I aim to change that. By working with the best of British food producers, we aim to generate a greater feeling of pride in British cooking and see that it takes its rightful place on the international map.’’

You would think the observation comes from a traditional Brit, possibly a blue-blooded aristo and definitely a patriot, right? Wrong.

This is Bangladeshi-born restaurant-success story owner Iqbal Wahhab. Having done his bit to spice up the Bangladeshi spread at UK curry houses — and changing the pub night out for a certain section of society as 10 pints followed by a vindaloo — he then created one of the most successful Indian restaurants in London, the Cinnamon Club at Westminster.

‘‘I don’t like getting bored so I needed another challenge,’’ says the LSE graduate. ‘‘And what could be a greater challenge than bringing that element of success to British cooking’s reputation?’’

So, on the site of Britain’s oldest surviving food market, Borough Market, Iqbal is launching Roast this month. Here’s to suckling pigs and rotating chickens!

Marrying Indira, BBC’s Mother India
This week, BBC’s documentary Indira Gandhi: The Killing of Mother India was billed as showing previously unseen footage. At first, however, it looked as though it had cast all the usual suspects: there was commentary by Sir Mark Tully (who described Bhindranwale as ‘‘not particularly intelligent, but definitely charismatic’’), plus interviews with Arun Nehru et all. It didn’t help that the documentary launched immediately into cliches — the late prime minister was a 20th century icon who was ‘‘loved and loathed in equal measures’’, she was also regarded as being ‘‘the architect of her own demise’’. But Nick Read who produced, directed and wrote the programme, wove in the fascinating footage of her wedding to a handsome young Feroze Gandhi.

And it was this depiction of a blossoming young woman, who arrived in Britain to study at Oxford as a shy teenager, yet returned to India to marry a man her father had misgivings about which won it most points.

Green tea-ser, this one
You can bring coals to Newcastle, or, going by one of the latest trends, bring to the nation of tea-drinkers…wait up, healthy teas. Divia Lalvani reveals her new project in the latest issue of Shoo magazine, a collector’s edition to mark the 10th issue. Divia, apart from being the daughter of multi-millionaire Binatone electronics founder Gulu Lalvani, is a tried and tested entrepeneur in her own right. She set up the Oriental restaurant Zuma in Knightsbridge, made it the destination for A-list stars and after selling her shares in the business, is now working with her father besides pursuing her interest in Eastern teas.

‘‘When I was researching the cuisine for Zuma, I discovered all the different properties for green teas and white teas. There is so much that we haven’t tapped into yet.’’ And then, Divia Teas made it to Harrods and Harvey Nichols. I’m assuming she’s not taking them back to the East just yet.