When did the first Indian owned restaurant open in the United Kingdom?

It is commonly assumed that London’s first Indian restaurants were set up by Bangladeshi immigrants in the 1960s and ‘70s, but actually, the first one was established over 200 hundred years ago, in 1810.

Hindoostane Coffee House (HCH) was owned by Sake Dean Mahomed, a Bengali traveller, surgeon, entrepreneur and captain in the British East India Company. He was also the first Indian to publish books in English.

HCH was located at 34 George Street, now renumbered as 102 George Street, in Marylebone, between Gloucester Place and Baker Street. It's now marked by a Green Plaque, unveiled on the building by the City of Westminster in 2005.

Indian curry was already popular in England in the 19th century. In fact, spices had been present in English cookery since the time of the Crusades in the late 11th century. Hannah Glasse’s 'The Art Of Cookery Made Plain and Simple', published in 1747, is one of the first cookbooks to give recipes for curries and pilaus.

The early British dishes were very mild, flavoured with salt, peppercorns, coriander seeds, lemon juice, and more herbs than spices. By the 19th century, turmeric, cayenne, ginger, cumin, fenugreek and caraway seeds had been introduced.

Mobeen Butt, founder and director of the Muslim Museum Initiative, which records the history of Muslims in Britain, tells us, “there were other restaurants serving 'Indian' food before Sake Dean Mahomed's Hindoostane Coffee House, but his was the first to be run by an Indian.”