Exclusive: Dipna Anand to open first solo restaurant in Chelsea

Chef Dipna Anand is to open her first solo venture Dip in Brilliant in London's Chelsea this month.

The informal, 70-cover restaurant is set to open on 20 February, when Anand will continue to showcase the Punjabi food her family's restaurant Brilliant is known for.

Anand also co-owns the 220-cover Brilliant in Southall, which her brother Shanker and father Gulu continue to run.

Guests will eat from a thali (a metal round platter) and the menu will be a condensed version of the Brilliant menu, offering dishes such as chicken tikka, papri chaat, chicken tikka masala, tandoori mixed grill and biryanis.

"Indian food and culture is all about sharing and togetherness and that's what the restaurant is about," said Anand speaking to The Caterer. "It's proper Punjabi cooking that comes from the heart."

The restaurant has been acquired on a two to three-year lease. "We want to test how we do in central London," said Anand. She may later look to move the restaurant to another central London site and consider opening more.

The Brilliant brand was founded in the 1950s by Anand's grandfather Bishen Dass Anand. Its first site was a restaurant, nightclub and hotel in Kenya, followed by a catering business.

In 1973 the family moved to the UK where sons Kewal and Gulu Anand opened the first Brilliant restaurant on Western Road in Southall in 1975 serving Punjabi cuisine with a Kenyan twist. The restaurant started as 30 covers and has since expanded, and now also includes a private banqueting suite, a catering business, a cookery school and its own brands of pickles and chutneys.

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