Lasan Restaurant – a tasty rendezvous

These valuable early lessons enabled him to create Lasan

Jabbar Khan founded Lasan Restaurant in 2002, tucked away inside Birmingham’s prestigious Jewellery Quarter, Lasan has been voted one of the top ten Indian restaurants in the UK by The Independent and The Times. It boasts amongst its many accolades, The British Curry Awards, Institute of Directors (IOD)- Young Director of the Year Award – Jabbar Khan, BIBA (Best of Britain Awards), and has recommendations in Which, Time Out and The Michelin Guide.

Jabbar admits that like many second generation Bangladeshi’s, in the UK, he was uninspired by and nor did he want to take up the ancestral restaurant business route for himself. According to The Curry Club of Great Britain, there is in the region of 8,500 Indian restaurant’s in the UK of which 7,200 are owned by Bangladeshi’s.  For Jabbar, his own adventure into the catering world started  early, as young man, in his teens, working for his uncle. Over the years, he admits with no real intention to start his own business, he developed an understanding of the trade. In many ways the lessons he learnt, during those formative years, showed him ‘what not to do’ but more importantly, how to do it better. These valuable early lessons enabled him to create Lasan, an up-market, haute cuisine Indian restaurant.

Lasan, in St Paul’s Square, has a contemporary, stylish and open quality to it, far removed from the old flock wallpaper once associated with Indian restaurants. Thus, creating a charming and delightful ambiance for an evening of fine dining, prepared by award winning chefs such as Munayam Khan and Aktar Islam. Lasan, and Jabbar, pride themselves on providing their diners with an authentic Bangladeshi/Indian food experience.

Richard McComb, writer and restaurant critic, for the Birmingham Post, wrote of Lasan,

“…unquestionably the finest Indian restaurant in Birmingham”

His sentiments have been echoed by other’s including, Lord Karan Bilimoria, the Chief Executive of Cobra Beer and celebrity chef James Martin.

Lasan, Jabbar and his team, simply go from strength to strength. Each year the list of awards continues to grow. Each year they build on their success. The Lasan team are masters of innovation and their expertise in developing new but also returning to traditional and authentic South Asian culinary delights, ensure that they remain a shinning example of the best of British/Indian catering.

We spoke to Jabbar, about Lasan and his own story as a successful Brit-Asian entrepreneur. Watch the very interesting and exclusive Desiblitz video interview to see what he had to say.

Jabbar has succeeded in reinventing the Indian restaurant for a new generation of entrepreneurs. His inspirational leadership skills and entrepreneurial flair has taken out some of stigma associated with the Indian catering business. Thereby, raising the bar and enabling others to consider the industry in a more professional light.

By staying ahead of the game and introducing innovative ideas such a mobile ordering service and the implementation of a customer relationship management system to keep abreast of customer preferences and loyalty, Lasan is showing that it is focusing on its clientèle to ensure their dining experience is the very best.

Lasan is an example of how high quality management and a commitment to developing your employees, married with excellence in service and good food, can take a dream into a successful reality. But equally, Jabbar and his team are now giving foodies more of a sumptuous choice when it comes Indian food.