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A labour of love: Bobby’s publishes its first cookbook
One of Britain’s oldest and most famous vegetarian Indian restaurants is sharing the secrets of its popular family recipes in a new cookbook
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ook With Love has been lovingly created by the Lakhani family, which has run the iconic Bobby’s in Leicester for the past 45 years. Compiled by Enna Lakhani, it features many of the restaurant’s favourite recipes. “It’s been a real labour of love for us,” says Enna, the daughterin-law of founders Bhagwanji and Mangla Lakhani who opened the restaurant – named after their favourite Bollywood movie of the era – on St Valentine’s Day 1976. The book is dedicated to Mangla, described by Enna as ‘a woman whose passion for her family, food and life knew no bounds’. “She created alchemy in the kitchen, her small, magical hands never needing to measure ingredients but always producing consistently perfect food. “She simply loved to feed people and instinctively knew what everyone loved to eat, never compromising on the
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SHE CREATED ALCHEMY IN THE KITCHEN, HER SMALL, MAGICAL HANDS NEVER NEEDING TO MEASURE INGREDIENTS BUT ALWAYS PRODUCING CONSISTENTLY PERFECT FOOD
dishes that she cooked. “Not only did she have an incomparable knowledge of the kitchen, she remained engaged in everything from current affairs and politics to Indian fashion until her final days. “I learned a lot about the art of cookery from Mangla after I got married, and she would always tell me to watch and learn, so we could turn it into a book one day. I hope she would be proud of what we have created.” Cook With Love has been compiled by Enna with help from 10 other members of the family and recognises the contributions of all the chefs and colleagues who have worked at Bobby’s over the past 45 years. Situated in the heart of the Golden Mile, Bobby’s has become a vegetarian culinary institution, offering a gastronomic journey through the Indian subcontinent from street food to traditional Gujarati thalis.
It was one of the first vegetarian Indian restaurants of its kind in the UK, setting the benchmark not only for exceptional, authentic cuisine but for unforgettable hospitality. It was listed in the top 30 restaurants in The Sunday Times’ best places for a curry and has gathered fans from across the country and globe, including Indian cookery guru Madhur Jaffrey who travelled there specifically to sample a rarely served Gujarati dish of Dal Dhokli. A Way with Media, which has published the book, commented: “The story of Bobby’s is not simply that of a neighbourhood restaurant. It’s the story of an institution, a way of life, a race to freedom by an exceptional family who made Leicester their home and who came to be a valued and integral part of the city’s landscape. ‘Cook With Love’ is available to but at awaywithmedia.com.
