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    JKS Restaurants owner Karam Sethi to open a new Soho restaurant with his siblings

    Synopsis

    The family behind Gymkhana is all set to open a new new Soho restaurant called Hoppers that will offer Tamil and Sri Lanka cuisine.

    Bloomberg
    The family behind Trishna, Gymkhana, Bubbledogs, and other London restaurants that are among the most successful of recent years — including Taiwanese street food standout Bao — plans to open an establishment inspired by the Tamil roadside shacks of southern India and Sri Lanka.

    Called Hoppers, it will be on Frith Street in Soho and is scheduled to open in October, says Karam Sethi, who owns JKS Restaurants with his brother, Jyotin, and sister, Sunaina.

    The menu will center on the hopper (also known as appam), a bowl-shaped pancake made with fermented rice batter and coconut milk, and dosas.

    "We've been working on this for two or three years," Sethi says. "I've always had the idea of doing something more casual, and this fitted because we've seen the popularity of the duck dosa (right) at Gymkhana. It's probably the most-ordered dish. So I already know that the dosa is familiar to Londoners."

    Gymkhana was named UK National Restaurant of the Year 2014 within months of opening. It placed fourth for 2015. The Sethi family also backs Lyle's, a modern British restaurant that came sixth. Kitchen Table at Bubbledogs placed 31st in the Top 100. At the Sethis' newest eatery, bun café Bao, the main challenge has been managing the queues outside.

    The menu will begin with snacks such as roti — with fillings such as Tamil spiced braised oxtail. The hoppers and dosas will be served with a choice of sauces known as karis on a brass platter with three coconut chutneys. The menu will also include two rice-and-roast dishes, such as a buffalo-shank biryani and a Tamil spit chicken.

    Sethi says the siblings formed JKS Restaurants this month to coordinate their projects. Karam is responsible for food, concepts, and new talent; Sunaina curates the wine lists and looks after operations; and Jyotin is managing director.

    "The ambition of JKS Restaurants is to play an integral part in the growth and multicultural diversity of the London food industry," he says.

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