Asma Khan

A Formidable Force 

Interviewed by: Shraddha Mishra
Protographed by: Ming Tang Evans

Asma was born in Calcutta. She lived in a nuclear family, but her entire extended family resided in the same city. Occasions, festivals, celebrations were a massive affair, with everyone getting together. Growing up with grandparents is always a blessing, but for Asma, being a complete ‘tom boy’ ensured she wasn’t the favourite grandchild. However, the very dependable girl was always there for her family, promptly ready to be of help. That won her family’s hearts, and she was allowed to carry on with her interests. The guitar on some days, a cricket bat on others, kept her happy. Never did she like to put on jewellery, paint her nails or even watch a boiling pot in the kitchen.

But even jewellery and an embellished dress she was ready to don at weddings, for it was the biryani at Muslim weddings that she found irresistible! She could do anything for that biryani. She missed it so much that after she got married and moved to London, it made her dearly homesick.

Haji Saab, the family cook also constantly worried about the little ‘child’ who lived away from home and didn’t get her favourite foods to eat. It was for his attempt at teaching her how to make her favourite biryani that she tried her hand at cooking for the very first time. Carefully following the detailed recipe that Haji Saab had explained to her, she made a delicious biryani, with rice, meat and potato cooked separately three quarters, before assembling.

The biryani available in London at that time wasn’t promising. For anyone who knows their food seriously, rice cooked in curry, served with a side of curry, wasn’t good enough to be passed for biryani! But when Asma took it in her own hand, she found home in her own kitchen. That serving of biryani took her back to everything that she missed about her home. Dining together, the whole family sitting and enjoying the food, conversations and a hearty meal! That’s how every meal in Calcutta used to be.

Life was different away from home. And perhaps it was like this even for other Indians living abroad. Asma then had an idea that would go on to change her life forever. She decided to host a supper club from her home. An elaborate meal, on the theme of an Indian wedding, featured dishes like Chicken Chaap, Nargisi Kofta and Shahi Tukda.

Impressed with the authentic Indian food that the diners had tasted that evening, they all came back for more, this time with some of their European friends, excited to make them try the real taste of food from their country. These were exciting times in Asma’s kitchen, as Darjeeling Express, the supper club she ran from home, had set off on a very successful journey. But all this, her husband did not know. “You should be a lawyer, not do all this!” he felt. Weekend after weekend, Asma’s home was filled with 40 diners. Furniture would be moved around, dishes and utensils would pile up in the sink, and the kids started feeling a loss of their space. That’s when the supper clubs at home came to an end.

But the thing about good food is, you want more! Diners were eagerly waiting for the next opportunity to enjoy the Darjeeling Express food. So in 2015, Asma started looking out for other locations where she could continue cooking. That is when someone suggested that she host pop-ups at a pub in Soho. And then one day, having lunch at the pub with her daughter was reputed food critic, Fay Maschler. After receiving a rave review from her, especially for Mutton Samosa, Kosha Mangsho and Gajar ka Halva, the restaurant was packed!

But soon it was time for Asma to pack up and move back home. What she would do next, she genuinely hadn’t planned. “If I said it was my dream to have a restaurant of my own, I wouldn’t be speaking the truth,” Asma says, humbled by the bitter reality that she thought it wasn’t even possible for an Asian woman, belonging to a minority community. Nothing was in her favour, she thought.

But it was her time. When at a social occasion she met a lady, who worked at a high position in a bank, she was encouraged to apply for a business loan. The bank agreed to a loan for half the amount required. The rest was expected to come through from an investor, who backed out at a crucial moment. But there was no turning back. Asma’s husband came through for her and offered to invest the required amount, albeit not very keen on his wife to venture into a restaurant business.

But Darjeeling Express took off and how! The restaurant grew in popularity with each day. Talk of the town was the authentic Indian fare here, for Asma’s culinary expertise and the hard work of Asian girls who are the workforce behind this very popular London restaurant, was nothing short of super successful. “It is a dream come true, one I never dreamt!” Asma describes how she feels about the restaurant’s achievements.

All this, Asma says wouldn't have been possible without her mother-in-law. “Bengali women are formidable,” says Asma, as she tells us that it was her mother-in-law’s constant support that ensured she followed her passion. Today, Asma is the same formidable woman, an inspiration for many women struggling for opportunities. Her restaurant is run completely by immigrant women who look up to her for support, an additional income to contribute to the family, and a career in which they can grow along with their domestic responsibilies.