Island Life Magazine Ltd June/July 2009 | Page 110
life
FOOD & DRINK
Spice of life for
a family man
Martin Potter meets the man
behind the Island’s newest
takeaway.
AS he prepares to open Chutneys Express, a
new takeaway in Ventnor, it would be easy to
think Jilah Miah had been riding the wave of the
every-growing popularity of Indian cuisine. But
meeting him you can’t help thinking he created
the demand, single handedly.
You come away from meeting Jilah with the
work “focussed” in your mind. He is owner and
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proprietor of the Nabab tandoori restaurant in
Newport, which he has run since 1990. But he
is also the eldest of three brothers. Rujal runs
Cinnamon in Ryde and Munsur, runs the Tamarind
in Newport.
So they’ve about got the Island covered. It wasn’t
long ago, when Jilah first came to the Isle of Wight
from Portsmouth, that there were only a scant
handful of Indian restaurants here. He came here
in 1987, working in the Bombai Palace in Cowes.
He then moved on to the Agra Deluxe, but his
boss decided to sell that restaurant to move back
to Portsmouth.
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