An opening date has been set for an Indian ‘tapas’ style restaurant at Mercia Marina’s new landmark £3m Piazza building.
One of the first of its kind in the East Midlands, Lotus Indian Kitchen is based on a dining concept of sharing plates and the restaurant will open to the public on Saturday, July 14th. The soft opening was on Friday 6th July.
A group of family friends are behind the new venture including Sunny Chandhoke, a Chartered Accountant, and Sanj Kumar, director of NK Motors at Pride Park. The restaurant’s general manager will be Vid Patel, of Littleover, who is the former owner and founder of Jee Ja Jee's restaurant.
There will be around 15-20 members of staff, including six chefs, and the restaurant will be open from 11.30am to 10.30pm seven days a week.
The menu will be split into grills, street food and curries, with two weekend specials on offer. There will also be Indian infused cakes and cocktails for customers to enjoy.
Sunny said the atmosphere of the restaurant would be relaxed, casual and modern and unlike traditional Indian fine dining restaurants.
He said: “There will be no tablecloths, the cutlery will be in authentic Indian lassi glasses and the décor is quite minimalist. The bar will be open for anyone who wants to just come in and have a drink. We will be serving Indian infused cocktails which are unique to the area such as our masala mojito, as well as ales from a local brewery. The food will be very authentic street food that you would find in India.
Sanj added, “We’ve spent a lot of time sourcing the décor for the restaurant including an apothecary chest from Rajasthan and large wooden shutters which were from a mansion in Kerala, both dating from the 19th century. It will be very different from a traditional Indian restaurant, much less formal and more casual and relaxed.”
Mercia Marina, in Findern Lane, Willington, is a major regional tourist attraction with over 900,000 visitors a year. The new £3m Piazza landmark building has been completed. It is Bionical’s global HQ and as well as Lotus it also houses the Bluebird Gallery, Twigg Home, William Wheelwright Hair Salon and Black By Design’s showroom and shop.
