An ambitious modern Indian restaurant opens in Putney today with the aim of providing high-end Mayfair-style dining in southwest London.
Raaz is the debut restaurant from chef Imran Mansuri, who trained at Benares and Tamarind, was part of the launch team at Jamavar and was most recently executive head chef at Kalomba. He says: “We’re serving the kind of modern Indian food you’d happily cross London for, only now it’s on your doorstep.”
Imran has taken over the former site of long-running Hudson’s on the Lower Richmond Road – and he’s both excited and nervous about the launch: “It’s your first restaurant. Even though you’ve worked for all big shots, it’s not the same. This is my first, so it’s heart and soul – everything is in this.”
The name Raaz – meaning ‘secret’ in Hindi – reflects Imran’s aim of surprising diners by transforming familiar dishes with unexpected techniques and ingredients. “We want to keep that secret in their mind, that something new will come on the plate. There’s something unknown. So it creates excitement – it’s our secret what we are putting in the food.”
Imran added: “I know Putney very well because I have a few friends with restaurants out here. Chook Chook is my friend’s restaurant. I know them. We are good friends and I know about the area. I know the people here want to have good Indian food.“
The opening menu at Raaz ranges from classic chaat to tandoor grills and slow-cooked curries. Dishes include Cornish lamb chops with kadai mushrooms and a soft-yolk quail egg; wild garlic chicken chop with charred broccoli; and a coconut-rich Malabar fish curry with wild seabass.
