Asma Khan, chef and restaurateur of London’s Darjeeling Express, recalls a treasured food memory, one that took place in the midst of her ancestral home during a wedding. “Food is an integral part of any auspicious celebration and the regal biryani was not to be seen. Amma asked me to hustle inside the palace kitchen in Aligarh, to check on it. I was just 16 and witnessed the opening of the degh (a copper cooking pot) by Haji sahab — as we called Haji Waheed, the palace’s head cook — for the very first time. I was intrigued by the aroma. The words of Haji sahab still ring in my ears. He placed a few grains of rice on my palm and said, One day, you will prepare this very same biryani better than me.” She acknowledges with deference that his version is better, but notes that childhood visuals like these made her who she is today.
When Asma is not travelling, she is busy running her all-female clan kitchen in the eclectic area of Soho, London. The jaw-dropping fact is that all the women are homemakers aged between 50 and 60. They are said to have no prior culinary experience under their belt, apart from their exploits in their own home kitchen. At Darjeeling Express, this power-packed female team serves wholesome homey charm. Asma’s journey with these women incidentally started outside her children’s school during Holi.
Asma migrated to the United Kingdom in 1991, post marriage. She completed her PhD in British Constitutional Law from King’s College and was a barrister. But the love for food was always present within her. She “struggled to cook for the first two years,” and in the end, trotted back to her family kitchens to master the tricks of the trade. One thing led to another and Darjeeling Express had its unofficial incarnation. A private supper club behind closed doors, in the midst of her home with the very same women.
Encouragement from her friends and family combined with an interested investor led to the official opening of Darjeeling Express in the summer of 2017.
The name originated from a memory she shared with her father, while overlooking the mountains in Darjeeling. “He said, ‘Asma, we are free here’. As a young girl, I felt like a bird in a cage. Cooking enabled and gave me the power to change things around. I have the means to liberate other women now.” Her journey has not been without ups and downs. It was tragic when the original investor decided to withdraw his commitment. Her husband, who had never approved of her venture, came to the rescue and the project took off.
The food served in her restaurant — in the prime location of Kingly Court, off Carnaby Street — is a marriage between her royal Mughal ancestry, and the rich childhood, colonial backdrop and culture of Calcutta. Diners find puchkas transported from the streets of Bengal and regal biryanis straight out of her palace kitchen.
Her début cookbook, Asma’s Indian Kitchen, “features lesser-known recipes distinctive to my family” and stresses that it is a celebration of her ancestral culture and heritage. It is also a tribute to “Haji sahab , my mother and the many forgotten home cooks who put in so much every day”.
Asma’s tale now also premières on Season 6 of Netflix’s famed Chef's Table on February 22. It will be a journey of a young girl and her locked-up feelings of being an immigrant and the weight of identity as a Muslim in the United Kingdom. “The lights are on, this is my second innings and I am not getting out any time soon.”
