THE son of Glasgow ‘curry royalty’ is preparing to re-open his family’s famous restaurant after a £150k refurbishment.
Jasdeep Singh started work in the Little Curry House when he was 13 - and nine years later he is at the helm, leading a staff of 24.
The Byres Road institution, which opens this month with a new look and new menus, was taken over by Jas’s father Kulwant - former head chef at Mother India and Mother India’s Cafe - in 2013.
Jas became a fixture in the team when he was a teenager, starting out as a kitchen porter and working his way up.
The new-look Little Curry House will open its doors on Friday for takeaway, and on September 30 for sit-in diners, with a new tapas menu inspired by the same Indian institutions his father co-founded almost 20 years ago.
Kulwant opened Mother India’s Cafe alongside Monir Mohammed in 2002.
The Glasgow institution has grown to become one of the best-known Indian restaurants in Glasgow and it was one of the first to serve Indian tapas.
Jas is now following in his father’s footsteps, taking the Little Curry House’s reputation for authentic Indian food “to the next level”, with its own tapas menu, featuring a host of freshly prepared and innovative small plates.
Jas hopes the restaurant’s stylish refit, stellar reputation and new menus will have people queuing out the door once again.
He said: “I can’t wait.
“Before lockdown, every weekend people would be lining up outside waiting for a table - there’s certainly no better advertisement for your restaurant than that.
“It’s relaxed and spontaneous, and seems even more significant now after everything everybody’s been through. I can’t wait to get back to serving people indoors again - it’ll be like serving up a family-sized portion of normality.”
Jas added: “Tapas is how we’re continuing that theme through the food - small plates that bring families and friends together through sharing.
“My dad blazed the trail with it in Glasgow, and now I’m proud to be taking it forward.”
Jas explained he and his sister worked at the restaurant after school and at weekends when he was a teenager.
“We very quickly got used to the hustle and bustle of the restaurant,” he added.
“Before lockdown our evenings were often fully-booked.
“We were working 12 hour days, seven days a week – it’s what you need to do when you’re part of the family business.
“I grew up here, and I feel like it’s the time to bring it forward, while not forgetting what made it great.”
Jas said his father is “quite rightly a member of curry royalty in Scotland.”
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He added: “It’s important to me that I do my father’s reputation justice.
“I can’t wait to welcome our customers again and let them see how the space has been transformed.”
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