Tata<\/a> Centre. \u201cThat was her first catering job\u2026 the rest is history.\u201d She soon began catering at some of the city\u2019s most popular clubs \u2014 Tollygunge Club, Royal Calcutta Turf Club, and Calcutta Cricket and Football Club. Meanwhile, Asma attended La Martiniere School on Rawdon Street and later, Loreto College on Park Street.<\/p>\nStory continues below this ad<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was a very different sense of equality at that time in the 80s. Calcutta in the 80s and 90s was an incredible space,\u201d says Asma, adding that one felt protected and valued.<\/p>\n
That feeling of protection wasn\u2019t the only thing that Asma loves about Calcutta. Food was central to her growing years. She talks about the \u201crolls at Badshah in New Market, the\u00a0chana bhatura\u00a0and tutti frutti at Kwality on Park Street, the dosa at Jyoti Bihar, and the Chinese at the Taj Hotel.\u201d That wasn\u2019t all. The American chop suey at Bar-B-Q is unmatched, although the queue to get a place is terribly long,\u201d she laughs. For sweets, she names K.C. Das on Chowringhee, and for\u00a0mishti doi\u00a0(sweetened yogurt), Khan recalls visiting Mithai on Park Circus.<\/p>\n
She also explains the colonial influence on her family\u2019s food. \u201cMy mother cooked a lot of continental food\u2026 She made Chicken \u00e0 la Kiev, a prawn cocktail inspired from what was served at popular joints such as Sky Room, Mocambo, and Trincas on Park Street.\u201d Having spoken at length and passionately about Calcutta\u2019s food, Asma says, \u201cAll the Indian Chinese food in the rest of India is horrible. Calcutta Indian Chinese is really Indian Chinese.\u201d Pausing for a few seconds, she utters excitedly\u2026\u201cAnd then, this kind of fabulous Dhaba culture \u2013 the\u00a0chicken bharta, which is such a Calcutta thing. It\u2019s the adding of eggs to chicken. It\u2019s the combination of the Punjabi trucker and the Bengali kind of sentiments.\u201d<\/p>\n
From a supper club to Darjeeling Express<\/strong><\/p>\nStory continues below this ad<\/p>\n
What remains in Calcutta for Asma is a house. \u201cMy parents moved back to Aligarh, and my ancestral home on Elliot Road was demolished.\u201d However, Asma bought a flat in the newly built apartment at the same place. \u201cI was the last granddaughter to be married from that house. And my mother was born in that house. So that link to that house was so great. In some ways, it\u2019s nice that I have a flat on the 11th floor.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/IMG_5328.jpg\")
A picture of Asma Khan\u2019s Elliot Road home (Express photo)<\/p>\n
Asma and her husband left Calcutta in 1991 for the United Kingdom. Years later, she began a supper club at home. \u201cI served chicken chop, rezala, kosha mangsho (dry chicken), gughni (chickpeas), luchi, aloo dum, and biryani.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople must have a desire to try good food,\u201d she explains as her purpose behind the supper clubs. In 2017, she turned the supper club into a restaurant, retaining the name Darjeeling Express. \u201cMy supper club was called Darjeeling Express after the toy trains in Darjeeling, which I cherished very much. Moreover, I thought my clients should know that it\u2019s by the same person. Otherwise, I would not call it this,\u201d she laughs.<\/p>\n
Everything about the restaurant is designed to reflect Calcutta \u2014 walls painted in warm yellow hues, adorned with family portraits of the Khans and their home on Elliot Road, and a menu curated from Khan\u2019s favourite picks in the city. Although the eatery offers three varieties: \u00e0 la carte lunch, pre-theatre menu, and set menu dinner, what remains constant are the tangra prawns, puchkas, niramish (a Bengali term for a vegetarian dish), prawn malaikari, and kosha mangsho.<\/p>\n
Story continues below this ad<\/p>\n
There is a cocktail called\u00a0Jhal\u00a0(a Bengali term for spicy) and a mocktail\u00a0Jhalphoron. For dessert, Asma\u2019s restaurant serves the iconic\u00a0Bhapa Doi, steamed yogurt. The locals and tourists alike flock to eat these dishes, resisting any change. \u201cThat\u2019s what Calcutta food does to one,\u201d she says gleefully.<\/p>\n
![\"Darjeeling](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/IMG_5330.jpg\")
Darjeeling Express (Express Photo)<\/p>\n
From the menu, Asma says, the favourites are\u00a0kosha mangsho\u00a0followed by\u00a0prawn malai curry. \u201cTa-da! Both Bengali dishes. These are our top favourites.\u201d The next favourite is Calcutta biryani. When asked to describe it, she says, \u201cIt is mild, fragrant. It does not contain too many spices, and the biggest thing is that the rice is not sticky. It\u2019s just separated.\u201d Khan\u2019s favourite element of the biryani is the\u00a0aloo\u00a0(potato). \u201cThe potato is better than the meat and the rice. All the flavour has gone into it. Best thing in the world. If that\u2019s the last meal of my life, I don\u2019t want the biryani. I just want the\u00a0aloo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd no city in the world, and I have travelled the world, for me, compares to Calcutta,\u201d she asserts. \u201cI wish the government would do more. The state government would do more to promote tourism. I am tired of people coming to my restaurant and saying, Oh, I\u2019ve been to India, I\u2019ve been to Kerala, I\u2019ve gone to see the Taj Mahal. I ask: Why have you not gone to see Calcutta? Our colonial history, our Bengali heritage, the beautiful stories about the synagogue, Nahoum\u2019s, you\u2019ve got the Armenian tradition, you\u2019ve got this amazing Muslim food as well as Indian Chinese (food). We have everything in the world but not tourists.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asma expresses her desire to give back to the city that gave her an identity. \u201cI am willing to do it for free\u2026 to encourage people to put Calcutta as a destination. You cannot understand India if you do not understand and have not eaten in a city like Calcutta. It\u2019s the food capital of India and of the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
Story continues below this ad<\/p>\n
On her plans for Darjeeling Express, Asma says she wanted to do something in Kolkata<\/a>. \u201cIn the West, I have achieved a lot. I need to go home. But in which way and how, I don\u2019t know. But the calling is very, very strong. The desire to go back is there. I want to go back when I can be of help. I want to go back when I still have the fire and I\u2019m physically strong and I have the creative energy. Because the city has given me everything. I am what I am because of Calcutta. I also want to do something for Calcutta.\u201d<\/p>\n\u201cThe Calcutta I grew up in,\u201d Asma says in a low voice, \u201chas changed\u2026I feel lost now\u201d. Buildings demolished, streets renamed, modes of transportation modernised, and people more aloof. \u201cYet,\u201d she notes, sounding positive, \u201cthe food remains the same \u2013 the best in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The jam-packed streets of Soho in Westminster, London, reflect the city\u2019s vibrant diaspora and multiculturalism. From Chinese to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":288096,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7757],"tags":[107587,748,107589,393,4884,107588,107591,257,38037,30218,107590,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-288095","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-london","8":"tag-asma-khan","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-darjeeling-express","11":"tag-england","12":"tag-great-britain","13":"tag-indian-restaurant-in-london","14":"tag-indo-chinese-in-calcutta","15":"tag-london","16":"tag-london-restaurant","17":"tag-michelin-stars","18":"tag-tangra-prawns","19":"tag-uk","20":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114908635131507463","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288095","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=288095"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288095\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/288096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=288095"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=288095"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=288095"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Pictures](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/IMG_5325.jpg\")
Pictures of Farrukh Said Khan at Darjeeling Express (Express Photo)<\/p>\n