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Curry 'palace' will seat 1,000

1/12/2002

THE biggest Asian restaurant in Europe will open in the New Year in Manchester.

It will seat a staggering 1,000 dinners at a time and even have a children's cresh to allow mum and dad eat their popadoms in peace.

Owner Mahboob Hussain says the Nawab Tandooshi on Stockport Road, Longsight, is his biggest project to date.

"We have restaurants in other British cities and even in Spain. But I think this one must be the biggest Asian restaurant in Britain - and as the UK leads the continent in Asian food - I guess it's the biggest in Europe."

Pakistani-born Mr Hussain has created his curry palace in the old Regal cinema. The magnificent interior design mixes the art deco style of the Regal's original design with Bollywood. Black and white stills from classic 1970s Bollywood films will be displayed on walls and colourful sari-style fabrics will hang from the ceiling.

Visitors to the restaurant will pass first into a foyer on an epic scale with the walls reaching the full height of the building. There is a futuristic chandelier and a stylised water feature in the centre.

The actual dinning area will be split into two with a 600-seater banqueting and function suit on first floor, and a 350 dinning and buffet area, on the ground floor. The restaurant will create 70 new jobs and chefs from Pakistan have been flown in specially to train the kitchen staff. Chefs will work in an open kitchen which will be visible to dinners at the centre of the restaurant. Customer will be encouraged to talk to chefs about their particular tastes in Asian food.

Said father-of-four Mr Hussain started in the restaurant business 15 years ago with his cousin and partner Tariq Mahmood. He said: "I loved cooking and eating for myself and one day I decided to mix business with pleasure. We are very excited about the Manchester project, it is our biggest yet and I want to create a completely new concept in dining on Asia food.

"The Nawab Tandooshi will be completely the opposite of some dingy place where a gang of lads come after the pub shut for a vindaloo and more pints of lager. The aim is to welcome the whole community especially the family. A visit will be an entire evening out but we will also encourage people to come in just for a quick drink and a snack at the buffet.

"It is great to be in Manchester which of course already has a thriving Asian restaurant scene and is a City that is really going places."

The Regal cinema was built in the 1930s and was one of a new generation of plush cinemas aimed at attracting the rising audience for 'talkie' films. It closed in the 1960s when cinema-going has slumped due to TV and was re-developed as a bowling alley. It then became a bingo hall and then a cash and carry warehouse before being bought by Mr Hussain.