Presenting chef extraordinaire Naved Nasir, the Executive Chef at Dishoom. Naved grew up in Meerut, a town in India. He discovered his passion for cooking as a child, but as his dad was a doctor, he wanted him to follow in his footsteps. Naved tried for a year, but quickly realised that it wasn’t to be and he needed to follow his dreams of becoming a chef.
Whilst living in India, Naved worked closely with top chefs. One chef he thanks in particular is Chef Imitiaz, who taught him everything he needed to know about mixing and balancing spices - crucial to the Indian cuisine. Having picked up all these skills, Naved moved to the UK in 2010 to open his first Dishoom restaurant in Covent Garden.
Dishoom serves traditional, authentic and honest Indian food. It pays homage to the Irani cafés and food of Bombay. Naved felt that the old Irani Cafés were great places and part of the fabric of urban life. They were open all day and night and served people of many backgrounds. As they began shutting down, Naved was determined to preserve the heritage and share it with the Londoners.
Creating the Dishoom menu took tremendous trial and error. Naved wanted the authentic experience, but also one that suited London. Each of the Dishoom restaurants has its own character, just like the Iranian Cafés do. Every restaurant is committed to food honesty.
