One of West Kirby’s long-standing Indian restaurants has recently had a major makeover, changing its name from Karma to chaat, creating a smart new interior and introducing a brand new tapas style menu. We spoke to Hussain Miah about the reasons behind the move.
Why the change from Karma to chaat?
We had been doing the same thing for 22 years and felt it was time for a change, to modernise the restaurant and re-energise ourselves with an exciting new project.
We’ve always been passionate about our food and felt there was an opportunity to use that more creatively, moving away from the preconceived ideas of what Indian food can be and offering something you can’t find anywhere else on the Wirral.
Our ethos has always been family, we want to blend the ideas passed to us through them with the influences of other restaurants we’ve enjoyed over the years. From the food our mother would cook at home to the spicy twists our sisters would put on food from around the world. All of it helps us to create dishes from all different cultures but rooted in our traditions.
What marks out chaat from other Indian restaurants?
What makes us unique is that we have moved away from an instantly recognisable Indian menu to one that lends those traditional flavours to dishes you wouldn’t expect. It isn’t always easy to get your head around but once you give it a chance we know you’ll find new combinations you’ll love!
We’ve put a lot of thought into every aspect of the experience, vibrant decor, music and our own take on classic cocktails all designed to compliment the food.
Tell us about the menu.
Our menu is split into small plates and curries, all designed to be shared and sampled. Food is a social experience, we have designed it to encourage you to try something new and enjoy it together.
It really is up to you though! You can stick to curries and get a load to share or load up on small plates and eat them all yourself!
The idea is to update the menu frequently, we never stop experimenting in the kitchen so you’ll never run out of new dishes to try!
What’s the response been like from customers?
The reaction so far has been amazing with plenty of praise. It’s especially encouraging when we see the same faces coming back for more!
There have been a few teething issues, trial and error as we got to grips with such a big change, but we are making progress and welcome feedback.
On the whole it’s been received really well, we know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea but we expected that and it’s absolutely fine!
chaat is open Tuesday – Sunday, 5-9pm. For reservations visit https://www.chaatwestkirby.co.uk/
The article above is sponsored content paid for by chaat
