Chutney In The Crown

POSTED ON JULY 1, 2017 UPDATED ON JUNE 30, 2017

I  like to call it reverse colonial imperialism…the culinary kind.

For over two hundred years the British ruled over us and now we have colonised their taste buds. Here in London, the latest to receive a double honour is the world’s oldest surviving Indian restaurant. Veeraswamy turned 90 together with the Queen and was invited to cater for a banquet in the Buckingham Palace (for a second time.) We have heard it is the only restaurant ever been invited to cater for the Queen’s party  in her own home. So when the golden hearted superachiever banker couple Deepak Parekh and Smita Parekh invited me for dinner to the highly awarded trailblazing restaurateurs Namita and Camellia Panjabi’s Veeraswamy, I dropped everything to dine in the elegantly modern Maharajah like room. We luxuriated in the flavours and textures of the Royal cuisines which retained their authenticity and yet had a contemporary swagger. A treat fit for a king…and queen!