Royston children get culinary masterclass from restaurateur

Safwaan, who owns British Raj Express Takeaway and The Guard House Thai Restaurant, both in Kneesworth Street, visited the school and taught 40 pupils about Indian and Bangladeshi cooking.

Safwaan delivered a culinary masterclass at King James Academy (Image: KJAR)

The Year 9 food technology students were set the task of creating and presenting a salad dish, incorporating their own grilled 'chicken tikka' cooked from scratch. 

Safwaan, who attended KJAR when it was known as Meridian School, said: "My lifelong dream was to become a restaurateur and at around the same age as the kids, I vowed to my teacher at Roysia Middle School that I would come back to spice up food tech classes. 

Saafwan teaching a class at Roysia Middle School in 2018 (Image: Roysia Middle School)

"True to my word, after starting my first business eight years ago, I returned to Roysia for my first class and continued to do so until the merger as KJAR.

"I have been coming back in the hope of not only inspiring a new generation of chefs; but to also introduce children to the nation’s favourite cuisine: curry."

One of the summer dishes prepared by the students (Image: Safwaan Choudhury)

Now 26, Safwaan became the youngest Indian restaurant owner in the UK in 2015, at the age of 18.

He said: "On this occasion, it was as much a learning experience for me as it was for the pupils.

"Asian cuisine is often associated with being heavy on spice, very oily or high in calories. Indian restaurants don’t offer much in the way of salads, so I came with the challenge to create a summer dish with the best to be added to our menu."

A summer dish prepared by the students (Image: Safwaan Choudhury)

There was a £50 gift voucher for British Raj Express available for one winner, but Safwaan ended up selected six winners out of the young chefs.

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He said: "I was dazzled by the presentation, imagination and skills demonstrated, so much so that there were two first place prizes to be added to our menu and another four pupils also received £25 gift vouchers for their hard work respectively.

"I was thoroughly impressed by the students and wish them the very best as they embark on GCSE food tech."

Safwaan at Roysia Middle School in 2017 (Image: Roysia Middle School)