With the easy-eat, no frills Dhaba Lane, founders Upma Arora and Arti Bareja, are bringing genuine, home-cooked Indian dishes to London’s urban space. The menu consists of refreshing Chai, local snacks and delectable, traditional mains, such as light curries and playful sandwiches, the likes of which are enjoyed by travellers from the Dhaba shacks of old. A farmer’s daughter who spent her childhood in rural India, Upma would enjoy the fresh and welcoming meals of these Dhaba families, who having lost their land to industrialisation’s highways, had seized the opportunity to set up their rustic food stops, and become a second home to nomadic passers-by. Upma took this vintage sense of entrepreneurship to the UK with her, and with another kindred spirit, Arti, started one of the finest lunchtime services in the country’s biggest metropolis: “We borrow those flavoursome homeland preparations,” the creative brain of the team, Upma, told us, “and add a kind of luxurious modern twist. By that I mean the experimenting with and boosting of the base recipes, not the inspiring roots of the cooking itself. In fact, that’s what makes our service unique; we don’t deal in ceremony and always put the comfort of people and the quality of their meals first.” In the vein, or should I say measuring spoon, of an adaptable caterers Dhaba Lane delivers to London offices as well as privately across the city, and has already been asked to partner with Uber Eats as one of their few production kitchens. Harper’s Bazaar has also listed them in their top 5 gourmet lunches. As Upma rounded up: “making even the smallest difference to people’s lives, is always worthwhile.” Warm and carefully crafted, Dhaba Lane isn’t just an ordinary eatery, it’s as it says on the tin: a fulfilling home away, from home away, from home!
You and business partner Arti do have a corporate background; what finally brought you to the organic and tasty world of home-cooking?
We always knew we wanted a business to call our own and our love of organic food grew just that way with our friendship; naturally, easily. We both come from foodie families and genuine, home-cooked Indian cuisine has always been close to our hearts. My grandma for example would make ketchup, if it came to it, from scratch! Arti and I work very well together too because we both have a tremendous trust and bring our own talent to the outfit. I’m dreamier and more artistic and she’s more rational and razor-sharp with her maths. That works really well when you do have such a variety of jobs to do: scaling up recipes, discovering your market, how the customer might react. I couldn’t think of better person to have grown my love of cooking with.
What has been your harshest critique?
Probably the feedback we received about our initial branding. We were very much focussed on the credibility of the recipes, but of course the way that you represent yourself is very important. It helped us achieve the incredible position we’ve got ourselves to today.
What exactly is the modern twist in your food?
There is a lot of plumping of the ingredients, for example our sandwiches only have the finest artisan breads: ciabattas and granary roles. We have many traditional Indian dishes and put an Indian spin on the salads and lunchtime sandwiches too; for example substituting fresh chutneys such as mango and apple for the traditional English cheese and mayo type fillings. It’s a natural reflection of how cosmopolitan we are as a London culture. As long as you cook with your heart, it’s going to turn out deliciously.
What’s your favourite part of the cooking process?
You know, I really enjoy going to shop for the vegetables; nowadays we have a supplier, but I still go to talk to him to see how he does it. Because of my agricultural heritage, I am drawn to fresh fruits and vegetables, and sourcing Indian vegetables in London is very, very exciting. I love trialling the possibilities at home. For example, Jackfruit Pakoras which is basically pulled jackfruit! That’s another element that’s fun: thinking on how meat dishes could be made into vegetarian ones.
How has your previous role as a business development expert helped with your cooking business?
Because I worked for a university – Middlesex University – I gained a lot of valuable knowledge under a public organisation, about how to get on in an intimate working space. It was a smaller workplace than say a large corporation, but that teaches you to do more and take more responsibility. You have to be on top of everything. Between Arti and I, we have pulled some long hours!
What was a key element you thought about when designing your website?
We made it very colourful to reflect the style and ethos of our food. Arti and I both like very bright colours; we’re not afraid to wear bold pinks, greens and oranges. That works really well for Dhaba Lane as we work with very beautiful, eye-catching spices. Food is also about being joyful and we wanted to demarcate ourselves as a modern, young and friendly provider.
And now you have been approached by NDTV to do a documentary; how does that feel?
Excellent: it’s shown that all our hard work has paid off. NDTV were looking for a keen UK start-up to follow and that really is a marker of how steadily but surely we’ve grown. We never wanted to accelerate at the cost of our quality so though it may have taken longer to get a wider platform, we have stayed careful and diligent In this crazy world, where everyone is fighting to get to the top, it’s easy to forget that the little things - the little steps and the little things that you can do for people – as what really matters.
