BRILLIANT RESTAURANT REVEALS KEY TO SUCCESS

OWNERS OF POPULAR RESTAURANT REVEAL THEIR SECRET

TUCKED away in Southall is an incredibly successful, familyrun restaurant that actually started life in Kenya – and it’s become a pretty big deal.

Brilliant Restaurant, owned and run by Gulu Anand, his son Shanker and his daughter Dipna, has just won an ITV Food & Drink Award for the best family-run restaurant.

Dipna describes her father as feeling “incredibly proud” of how well the restaurant has done. She also described how her late uncle Kewal Anand, who started the restaurant with Gulu, would be “pleased to see” how far they have come.

Now a huge part of running the restaurant, as well as a success in her own right with two published books, Dipna said she has always been inspired by her father.

Dipna’s grandfather started the first Brilliant Restaurant, Nightclub and Hotel in Nairobi, Kenya, in the 1950s and it was “very much a family affair”.

Dipna said: “My father took an extra keen interest in the cooking side of things, so my grandfather passed a lot of his recipes on to him.

“To cut a long story short, there was a political issue in Kenya at the time so my family migrated to London and my dad and his brother opened the first Brilliant restaurant here in Southall in 1975.”

Dipna’s mother and father got married a few years later and, because her mother used to help out in the restaurant, Dipna and her brother used to spend a lot of time there as children.

“We tried to make ourselves useful. I remember stacking bottles, doing the table cloths, setting the tables and talking to customers,” she said.

“I was only nine or 10 but I used to see the way my dad was interacting with customers, running around in front and back of house. He’s the same today, like a machine that never stops.

“I’ve always aspired to be like dad. When I look at him sometimes I’m put to shame because my brother and I will be sitting down, tired, but he’ll still be going.”

Dipna, who said her favourite dish on the menu is the Tandoori lamb chops, said people often asked the secret to Brilliant’s success.

She said: “It’s because we’re family-run. That bond together makes us successful. We make decisions together. Sometimes we have misunderstandings, but that makes you stronger.

“When people come to the restaurant they become part of our Brilliant family. They come in and recognise one of us.

“So it’s the whole experience that makes their visit worthwhile. It’s not only about the food or the service. It’s about us being there to welcome them to become part of what we love. It’s the whole Brilliant experience.”

Brilliant does not actually attract that many locals, although it does see plenty of regular customers. People come from far and wide around London and elsewhere to have a meal.

“People travel from all around London but also from places like Reading, Slough, Birmingham and Coventry, just to have a meal,” Dipna said.

“They know at least one of us in the family will always be there. Customers give us a lot of attention.”

When it comes to why the Anand brothers chose Southall, Dipna said she believes it was because of the small Indian community that was forming there, near to Heathrow – a community that is now huge in Southall.

Dipna said of her father: “He originally worked in a factory and started cooking for small groups of people in his garage, doing catering, before he started Brilliant. They made it into a 46-seat restaurant. Then its reputation grew and grew and now it’s over 300 seats.

“We now have a cookery school and we do catering for events like football clubs, plus my two books and the TV shows we’ve been on all help to grow our brand.

“Dad doesn’t want to open another branch because he believes firmly in the whole Brilliant family and keeping us all together. We do pop-ups sometimes, but we don’t want to open another restaurant at the moment.”

Dipna did her degree at the University of West London, in hospitality and catering, and believes that was where her cooking dreams really began.

She said: “I achieved a first class honours and a scholarship for my Masters. While I was doing the Masters I was asked if I could start teaching Indian cooking at the university.

“So then I did the necessary training and before I knew it I was teaching Indian cuisine at the university where I was studying for my Masters.

“A lot of what I learned in hospitality and catering was from the university. That’s where my dream started and where it first became a reality. All because of the University of West London.

“My dad often tells me he wasn’t lucky enough to go to university. He says it’s taken him years to get the knowledge around hospitality that I gained in my degree.

“Doing a vocational qualification will help you immensely in this industry.”

PA Dipna Anand