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Chain reaction: Sacked Asian editor to open food joints in UK

The purveyors of Britain's favourite dining-out cuisine are not to be trifled with. The curry boom in the nation's high streets has given considerable financial clout to south Asian restaurateurs that they can edge out perceived adversaries.

So when Iqbal Wahhab, 35, the former editor of Tandoori, likened eating out in many of the nation's legion of "curry houses" to "going to a funeral" and describing waiters as "miserable gits" while others were "fawning and crawling", he never anticipated the uproar it would create. The trade journal is distributed to Britain's 8200 curry houses.

He was sacked as editor, boycotted by the powerful restaurateurs trade associations and not allowed entry in some restaurants in London.

That was four months back. His entrepreneurial spirit was never too far off and he has bounced back with a vengeance. Today, he is poised to start off his own chain of restaurants, Cinnamon Club, in premium locations in the city.

In an exclusive interview with Rediff On The Net, his first after the furious caterers declared war on him, Iqbal decided to spell out on the reasons which prompted him to write the controversial piece and his plans to set up the "innovative" chain of restaurants.

"I might have used some harsh words in Tandoori but my aim was to improve service in restaurants, if the industry was to grow," says Iqbal.

Being the editor for the first Asian food and drink journal since 1994, Iqbal presumed a level of familiarity with his readers. "I wanted to argue the case of Indian restaurants in an effort to raise standards and make the market more competitive," he says. Even today, the number of restaurants is rising as the British appetite for curry appears insatiable -- the turnover fast approaching $3.2 billion a year.

Having obtained a ringside view of the functioning of the restaurant trade, working earlier in a public relations firm and then as a publisher, Iqbal thought it was important to address issues affecting their functioning.

"Expectations of people are high and I wanted owners to be investing more in staff and providing better training," he declares. The traders associations, dominated by some powerful men, thought otherwise.

"They were shocked because they presumed I was their voice and could not dissent. Sure, maybe I could have put it in a more constructive fashion but my ultimate aim was to elevate standards."

The campaign against him is muted now and in the period, Iqbal has been quietly beavering away, working on setting up his new restaurants.

"I want to take it a step further and introduce new styles of cooking to keep up with European standards," he says. Cinnamon Club hopes to be a trend-setter, playing with European ingredients while the core essence is Indian food.

"I do not want to deconstruct the idea so much, just find out what could be done if you take the cutting edge of innovation," he says.

His first restaurant opens up in High Street Kensington in September, followed up with branches in Marylebone and another site in central London. The Cinnamon Club also hopes to bring out a range of products starting with tea, coffee and rice.

Iqbal has hired one of the best chefs in the country, Nicole Deles, who will train up his team. He also hopes to visit Bombay later this month to recruit people from restaurants there as well as explore recipes which could be taken back to London.

"There's always scope for innovation," he says.

"Once it kicks off, I hope the others (Indian caterers) will realise the import of my words and that it sinks in," he says.

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