Asma Khan confirms plans to move Darjeeling Express to 'show off' all-female brigade

Asma Khan has said she plans to move Darjeeling Express to a site with an open kitchen so she can “show off” her all-female team.

The chef and restaurateur made the comments on BBC One’s Saturday Kitchen, later confirming in a tweet that the restaurant would move.

Speaking on the TV programme she said: “I am going to move because the real stars of my show are the women in the kitchen and at the minute we are in a kitchen which is in a basement, which is true for most West End places.

“Anyone who knows anyone, I’m in the market for an open kitchen so my women can be visible… I need to show them off, they are my pride and joy this is what makes our story so different.”

She later added on Twitter: “Darjeeling Express is moving – we still do not know where – hope we find a site that works for us soon.”

In 2020, at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, Khan took on the former Carluccio's site in Seven Dials, expanding the restaurant across a 120-cover dining room and deli.

She had originally opened the 56-cover Darjeeling Express in Kingly Court off the West End's Carnaby Street with an all-female brigade of self-taught chefs in 2017.