Two of the top Indian restaurants in merry old England — the iconic Chutney Mary and the heritage-rich Veeraswamy — have been taken over by a Canadian firm, named Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited.
“Affiliates” of Fairfax have acquired, as per a Times of India report, an Indian-founded company named MW Eat Ltd, which owns Chutney Mary; Veeraswamy; Amaya; and Masala Zone.
Veeraswamy is the oldest Indian restaurant in the United Kingdom, just a year shy of 100, while Chutney Mary has been around for about three decades now.
“MW Eat was founded by Namita Panjabi and Ranjit Mathrani with the creation of Chutney Mary in 1990. Camellia Panjabi, former main board member at Taj Hotels, joined them in 2001,” said the TOI report. It added that all three would work with Fairfax during the handover process.
Incidentally, it was reported in April this year by The Independent, UK, that Veeraswamy was facing eviction from its Regent Street address — a posh space it has retained since 1926 — because of “a row with King Charles’s property company”, Crown Estate.
“Veeraswamy has been frequented by a host of royalty and dignitaries from Britain and overseas during its decades spent in Victory House at 99 Regent Street, with notable guests including Princess Anne, Winston Churchill, Indira Gandhi and Charlie Chaplin,” said The Independent.
The (late) Queen Elizabeth II herself “then accepted an invitation to dine at the restaurant with Veeraswamy’s owners, but the plans were disrupted by the Covid pandemic”, said the news website, quoting Ranjit Mathrani, co-owner of Veeraswamy’s parent company MW Eat.
About the recent acquisition of MW Eat, a CNBC TV18 report quoted Camellia Panjabi, Group Director of MW Eat, as saying, “Fairfax brings financial strength, global perspective, vision and a long-standing commitment to India. These qualities perfectly complement MW Eat’s heritage and future ambitions.
“We have developed excellent restaurants with excellent people whose career opportunities will be enhanced by the new investment and ambitions of Fairfax. MW Eat is in very safe hands.”
