Chef Niaz Caan to make solo restaurant debut with Paro

Expected to launch in September, Paro is billed as a love letter to Calcutta offering ‘a modern interpretation of traditional Indian flavours of West Bengal’. 

Caan started working in Indian restaurants when he was just 14 and is currently executive chef at City Spice on Brick Lane. 

The young chef has a significant presence on social media and recently published his debut cookbook entitled Vegan – An Indian Cookbook. 

The menu at Paro will be made up of small plates and sharing dishes with options including mango chickpea chaat; bally black daal with slow-cooked black lentils and grandmother’s spice mix; cottage cheese roll; toddy shop tiger prawns; and slow roasted lamb shanks with saffron, charred garlic and coriander. 

Situated by The Lyceum Theatre on 21 Wellington Street, the site will have 120 covers in the restaurant with a further 30 covers in the bar. 

The interiors - by Studio G by Giorgia Pellandini - will make the most of the natural light flooding in through three metre tall windows. Design details will include white sandstone walls featuring botanical relief artworks.