The Curry Chefs of Brick Lane

With the blizzard whirling down Brick Lane this week, it was the ideal moment for a hot curry to warm the spirits, and so – dodging the mischievous curry touts’ snowball bouts between rival restaurants – I set out in the company of the Gentle Author, to make the acquaintance of some of Brick Lane’s most celebrated Curry Chefs.The Curry Chefs of Brick Lane. We were privileged to be granted admission to the modest kitchens tucked away at the back or in the basement of the curry houses, where Head Chefs martial whole teams of underchefs in a highly formalised hierarchy of responsibility.

“working away like those engineers below deck on the great steam ships of old, they are the unseen and unsung heroes of Brick Lane’s Curry Mile.”

The Gentle Author wrote two wonderful story to accompany these portraits and you can find them here and here.

Mr Zulen Achmed

Nurul Alam, Head Chef at Preem & Prithi, 124/6 Brick Lane, cooks three hundred curries a night.

Abdul Ahad Forhad, Curry Chef at Monsoon, 78 Brick Lane – “I’m the master of curry!”

Head Chef Shaiz Uddin with his colleague Monul Uddi

Monzur Hussain, Head Chef at Shampan, 78 Brick Lane.

Dayem Ahmed, kitchen porter of six months standing and aspiring chef, at Shampan.

Abdul Tahid, Head Chef at Papadoms, 94 Brick Lane

Jamal Uddin, Head Chef for fourteen years at Bengal Cuisine, 12 Brick Lane.

Syed Jahan Mir, Head Chef at Chillies Restaurant, 76 Brick Lane.