The Raj Culcheth has been trading for more than two decades and continues to impress.
The Raj Culcheth in Warrington has been going strong for 25 years now, and has built an enviable reputation among the locals, winning several awards along its journey.
Owner Anhar Miah who came to the UK from Bangladesh when he was just two years old, is looking forward to many more years of the same.
With his father having worked in the restaurant industry, Miah says the world of hospitality was in his blood from an early age, “I’ve been working in restaurants since the age of 15, starting as a kitchen porter for a year in a city centre restaurant, then as a chef in a takeaway in Manchester and then onto Preston where I worked in front of house,” explains Miah.
The Raj Culcheth opens in 1990
His roles rapidly went from waiter to restaurant manager to owner, with The Raj Culcheth opening in 1990. At that time, it was the only Indian restaurant in the area and, while others have opened since, The Raj Culcheth has maintained its popularity as a hub for the local community.
Front of house and welcoming customers is Miah’s forte, and he now sees his job more as socialising rather than working, making personal recommendations for customers and ensuring that every diner has not just a meal but an experience too.
Local hero
“We’re based in a small village, and a lot of our customers have been regulars for many years so we’re seeing the third generation now – the grandparents used to dine here and now it’s their children,” explains Miah. “We’ve got a very strong, loyal customer base and we’re also really involved with the local community.”
The Raj Culcheth sponsors many of the village’s local sporting teams, from football, to cycling to rugby and cricket and during the Covid pandemic, the restaurant provided meals free of charge for children.
It’s also heavily involved in raising money for charities, such as The Clatterbridge Cancer Charity, hosting a major fundraising event every year on the restaurant’s anniversary. And for the last ten years, it has worked with Epiphany Trust, raising funds through curry nights (when customers choose from a set menu with proceeds going to charity) to create wells in rural communities in Bangladesh.
Tradition and difference
“The Indian curry industry is completely different now to when I first started – people used to come after the pubs closed to have a curry so they could enjoy another pint,” recalls Miah. “Now they are a lot more educated in terms of what they want from the food. You’ve got to move with the times.”
The restaurant currently has four chefs – two tandoori chefs and two curry chefs, alongside other staff who help with the food preparation. Its reputation for its food is based not only on the fact that it offers traditional curries but also that it has more unusual dishes. The idea is that everyone can find something they like and perhaps discover something new, or get the chance to experiment with different flavours.
“You can’t really take all the traditional dishes off the menu but we have specials and if they sell well, we see what works and what doesn’t,” says Miah. “I went travelling last year to India for around four months, and picked up some ideas for potential new dishes such as a jackfruit curry with spices and potatoes – it’s an alternative to meat and a lot of people say it tastes like pork.”
Some of the restaurant’s popular dishes include Piri Piri Massalla, featuring pieces of spicy chicken tikka marinated in piri piri and smothered with mild masalla sauce (a blend of Indian and Portugueses spices), and Chicken Tikka Rajma, featuring diced chunky onions, sliced red capsicum pepper, garlic, plum tomatoes, fenugreek and ground spices, which is served on a sizzling plate with fried onions. Miah acknowledges that people are trying to eat more healthily and says there are plenty of alternatives to curries that can provide a good solution.
“Food grilled in the tandoor does not use any oil and is served with salad, and you can also substitute rice with chapatis,” he says.
Hard times
With the economic outlook still uncertain, Miah says that restaurants have to work a lot harder for a lot less.
“Times are challenging but we’re in a good position because we have been here so long, so we can sometimes take a hit more than most,” he says. “For someone starting out now, it will be really tough. During Covid, things were tough, but our takeaways went through the roof and we got support from the government.”
Miah’s stance is to do things well and to continue in the same vein. If it’s not broken, why try to fix it? “There’s many things we have continued to do in the same way over the years, with just a few tweaks with the food and presentation,” he says.
One new area where the restaurant has invested in is social media, which MIah says can be both very important but dangerous too.
“We promote our business on social media like Facebook, Tik Tok, Snapchat and other channels and it’s a great thing to do when it works well,” he says.
“But when you’ve got a lot of people who can give you negative or false feedback, and then if you fall into that trap, it can be quite damaging to your business.
“You have to monitor it all the time. I’ve been in the village for some time now so people know the business well but if people don’t know your restaurant and read a bad review, it can be detrimental.”
Visit the restaurant’s website.
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