Darjeeling Express moves from Soho to Covent Garden

Restaurateur and chef Asma Khan, is to move her Darjeeling Express restaurant from Soho’s Kingly Court to new and larger premises in Covent Garden.

The new home at 2A Garrick Street is owned and managed by Capco, and will be a restaurant and ‘incubator’ for training female hospitality staff to forge careers in the industry.

The new 5,770 sq ft restaurant will feature a larger kitchen, allowing Khan to employ and train a greater number of female staff into senior leadership roles in the restaurant industry.

“The kitchen at our home in Kingly Court was just too small to achieve everything I have planned for Darjeeling Express,” says Khan.

“Our new home will… allow us to train and prepare women of all backgrounds, into restaurant owners, managers and chief executives.

“There is a desperate shortage of women and diversity in senior roles in the hospitality industry and it is poorer for it.

“I will use our new Covent Garden restaurant to open doors to those who are under-represented in our industry.”

Royds Withy King has advised Darjeeling Express on both its current lease at Kingly Court in Soho and on securing the new site in the heart of Covent Garden.

“Whilst the hospitality industry has been hit hard by coronavirus, it is also creating opportunities for successful, committed and ambitious restaurateurs,” adds Richard Lake (pictured, right), an associate in the real estate team at Royds Withy King.

“The hospitality sector – and its customers – need and want chefs like Asma Khan to be successful, to deliver fantastic food and to change the shape of the industry. We are thrilled to have been a part of the Darjeeling Express story.”