Gymkhana founders launching third Indian restaurant
Hoppers will be located on Soho’s Frith Street at the site of the former Koya Japanese udon noodle shop.
Group executive chef Rohit Ghai will head up the kitchen, serving a menu focusing on hoppers - a thin, bowl shaped pancake made with fermented rice batter and coconut milk, and dosas - crepes made from fermented batter of ground rice and lentils.
The pancakes will be served alongside three coconut based chutneys and a choice of curries.
Tamil inspired bar food and a short dessert menu will also be available, while drinks will focus on Arrack and Genever cocktails with ginger beer and buttermilk chaas made in house.
Karam Sethi, who will operate the restaurant with his siblings Jyotin and Sunaina, told BigHospitality the site would serve ‘fun, quick, accessible and inexpensive food that’s very bold on flavour’.
“It’s a style of food that I’ve been eating for years and the dosa is already a very popular dish in London," he said.
“[Hoppers] will sit separately to Trishna and Gymkhana in the sense that it’s casual and cheaper per head. I see it as being more of a fast moving concept, around 45 minutes per meal.
“The menu has been designed so that there is enough choice and variety to allow you to eat here every day of the week.”
Gymkhana was named the National Restaurant of the Year in 2014. The site fell to fourth place this year but was awarded the title of Best Indian Restaurant.
Sethi and his siblings recently established the JKS restaurant brand in order to formalise their work as a restaurant group.
He told BigHospitality that in the short term JKS was focusing on Hoppers, with no immediate plans to open further restaurants.
“It’s all site dependent. Sites in London at the moment are extremely competitive rent-wise, probably the highest they’ve ever been, so the full focus from our side is on Hoppers at the moment.”
