Atul Kochhar to open Mathura in former Westminster Fire Station
Atul Kochhar is set to open a second London restaurant in the former Westminster Fire Station this autumn.
Following the opening of Kanishka in Mayfair in March, restaurateur Kochhar will open Mathura this autumn also offering Indian cuisine using locally-sourced British produce.
Mathura restaurant and bar will have 200 covers and be his second collaboration with Tina English, formerly commercial director of the Cinnamon Club.
The 5,000 sq ft site is both a conversion of an existing Grade II-listed building and a new build, mixed-use residential project from developer Alchemi Group. Rosendale Design, behind London restaurants including the Game Bird at the Stafford, the Ninth and Cabotte, is to oversee the design.
The site is likely to have a different feel and approach to Kanishka, which is named for a Kushan dynasty emperor and focuses on the cuisine of the seven sister states of northeast India, a region deeply influenced by Tibetan and Chinese culinary traditions. The name however hints at a theme - the city of Mathura in Uttar Pradesh was a significant part of the emperor Kanishka's territory.
In March, Kochhar told the Caterer: "I always say that restaurants are like children. You don't call them all by the same name. This will have its own character. If we do another one then it will have a different name, and it'll have its own character."
Kochhar operates three other sites including Indian Essence in Bromley, Kent, and two restaurants in Buckinghamshire: Sindhu in Marlow, and Hawkyns in Amersham.
Passage to India: Atul Kochhar on his new restaurant Kanishka >>
