ASMA KHAN, DARJEELING EXPRESS, LONDON

Sitting in a cosy dining room and tucking into a plate of steaming lamb biryani, it was easy to mistake Darjeeling Express in Soho for chef Asma Khan’s own home – and that’s exactly where her restaurant began: around a 12-seat table in the dining room of her family home. Now, however, Darjeeling Express stands empty, as Khan has announced that her legendary restaurant will not reopen at this site. “It would have been impossible to open the restaurant in its current form,” Khan says. “The biggest problem is my kitchen, which is a metre wide – my cooks work in a line, sharing one extractor fan, so implementing any kind of distancing between them is impossible.” Takeaway, she fears, would not convey the true feeling of the restaurant. Khan’s priority lies with her all-female team of home cooks, all of whom consider the restaurant to be far more than simply a job. “My staff are all immigrants, and the restaurant is their home in this country. It has been like a bereavement for us, being apart from it. “We have had a WhatsApp group to keep in contact during lockdown (I’ve started to realise how bad our jokes are!). For us, Darjeeling Express is not just a business – it’s our community.”

Khan is hopeful for the future, however. “Even before the pandemic I was looking to move; I feel we have somewhat outgrown our space,” she hints. “Though it might not be in the same form, I will be back – I can promise that. “Now more than ever people need to have something cooked with love, and that’s what I’m committed to working towards.”