Veeraswamy, Britain’s oldest Indian restaurant, celebrated its centenary on Monday at a dinner that opened with a Mulligatawny soup that featured on its first menu, served by waiting staff in newly tailored uniforms copied from the 1926 originals (pictured).
The future of the Regent Street institution remains in doubt following landlord the Crown Estate’s decision not to renew the lease so the estate can boost its office facilities. A petition of almost 20,000 signatories calling on the decision to be overturned has been presented to King Charles, but the dispute looks increasingly like moving to litigation in court this summer.
In her speech at the dinner, Camellia Panjabi, one of the trio who have owned it for the past 30 years, said Veeraswamy may in fact be the oldest Indian restaurant in the world: before Independence and Partition in 1947, those with the means to dine out in India ate in hotel or club dining rooms. As such, the restaurant meets UNESCO’s definition of a cultural asset that should be saved.
Guests at the dinner included the great-granddaughter of Edward Palmer, the Anglo-Indian spice merchant who founded Veeraswamy. She brought his bowler hat and carved walking stick for the occasion.
The dinner also looked forward, with Veeraswami’s new owner, the Indian-born Canadian-based financier Prem Watsa, promising to launch international branches – starting with one in Canada. A friend for several years, he acquired the restaurant and its stablemates Chutney Mary, Amaya and Masala Zone late last year from Camellia and her sister Namita Panjabi and Namita’s husband Ranjit Mathrani.
