Restaurant locations don't come much better than this. Big names such as Conran, the Ivy and Hakkasan jostled to get into Borough Market, London's foodie heaven, where gourmet shops have grown up around the historic fruit and veg stalls. But the market's trustees went for Iqbal Wahhab, a large, gregarious Asian man whose Westminster restaurant, the Cinnamon Club, is a favourite of the political ?te. Serving some of Britain's finest Indian cuisine, the Cinnamon Club was where the fire brigades union leader Andy Gilchrist and colleagues went on an £800 bender on the union credit-card. A group of left-wing MPs were called the "curry house plotters" by a Sunday paper after a session in a private room where they discussed ways to oust Tony Blair. Roast, Wahhab's restaurant in Borough, is different. It will serve classic and modern English food, using the best home-grown ingredients. "It probably takes someone who is not 100 per cent British to say, 'Come on guys, be proud of your food,'" Wahhab says.
He believes that English food can make it on to the world map - but only if it aims high. Roast will try to prove that.Wahhab was born in Bangladesh but has lived in this country since he was eight months old. He thinks Englishness, or Britishness, can now be expressed without jingoistic overtones - and that our appreciation of food has moved on, too. "People understand the notion of provenance in food; that the difference between a £2 supermarket chicken and a £5 chicken is not the £3.
The difference is the taste."Although gastropubs have had a go at English cuisine, they usually have tiny kitchens Roast has 20 chefs, a huge kitchen and full table-service. There are posh English restaurants in London, such as Rules and St John, but the ethos of Roast promises to be much more contemporary."There is something very sexy about British food right now," Wahhab says "And it has never been sexy before. I think it's part of a movement that also brought us Britart and, around here, things like the Tate Modern gallery and the Fashion Museum."Roast is going to be rigorous about the quality of what goes into its dishes "This is not just about English cooking. We will focus on our ability to source ingredients, as much as our ability to cook," Wahhab says.They're in the right place to do that. The market below, visible through Roast's huge windows, is a gourmand's delight.
