Curry in the UK
It is much debated where the word “Curry” comes from, one theory is that it is from the Pakistani word Karahi which is a sort of wok or from the Tamil word Kari which means vegetables or meat cooked with spices, with or without sauce. The fact remains that it is the UK’s most popular food from the humble Korma to the ring burner Ceylon or Phaal. The first Indian restaurant in the UK was opened in 1810 at 34 George St, Portman Square, London by Dean Mahomet, a resident of Patna who moved to England in 1784. It was called the Hindoostan Coffee shop and despite the misleading name actually served Indian food. He went bankrupt in 1812. The oldest surviving restaurant in the UK is London’s infamous Veeraswamy which opened in 1926 and is still going strong.
