New Indian restaurant opens in Leeds suburb

Three friends are opening a new Indian restaurant in Leeds which they say will offer authentic dishes from four areas of the country.

‘4 Kitchens’ is open from tonight (March 5) in the former ‘Siam Oriental’ restaurant on Harrogate Road, Chapel Alleton, and is the brainchild of the trio: Hemant Ghosh, 43, an IT consultant who spent 17 years in the Indian Navy as a Lieutenant Commander, Dr Tarun Bansal, 43, a doctor at Bradford Royal Infirmary and chef Sunil Sinha, 44.

The 90-cover restaurant aims to celebrate authentic cuisines from four states in India – Delhi, Goa, Rajasthan and Maharashtra – and follows the success of their first restaurant opening in Ilkley, in September. Hemant said: “We are all family friends. I just have a passion for food. When I moved over to the UK in 2009 I couldn’t get good food outside - or what I felt was good food. There were plenty of places to eat but not food which we would eat back home in India.

“So I felt there was a gap in the market for authentic Indian cooking in Yorkshire.

“As a result I felt it would be good to provide a regional cuisine restaurant. We chose four states - Delhi, Goa, Rajasthan and Maharashtra.”

Dishes on the sample menu include Tawe Ki Battakh, described as a “classic dish from the oldest community for Mumbai”, featuring duck breast, pot roasted with coriander, cumin and garlic, with a tangy sauce and Lamb shank Xacuti, a curry from Goa with complex roasted spices, coconut and dried red chillies.

Hemant said for the first week, from today until Friday March 9, they are holding a ‘Judgement Week’ where diners can pay what they feel the meal was worth (not including drinks). Visit their Facebook page: ‘4 Kitchens Leeds Traditional Indian Restaurant’