Richard Alleyne: Historians Uncover Spicy Secret of Britain's First Man Of Curry
It is almost unthinkable to imagine Mr Darcy, Jane Austen's dashing hero, rounding off a night out with his friends at a curry house.
But according to a recent discovery, he could well have done. Historians have found that Britain's first Indian restaurant was opened in 1809, in the midst of the Napoleonic wars and during the period in which Austen set Pride and Prejudice.
The Hindoostane Coffee House was established by Sake Dean Mahomed, an Indian-born entrepreneur, as a purveyor of Oriental food of the "highest perfection" in Marylebone, London, which at the time was a residential district for the well-off.
Mr Mahomed, who had served in the East India Company army and was married to Jane Daly, an Irishwoman, hoped to cash in on the area's popularity with former merchants and servicemen who settled there after making fortunes on the subcontinent.
It was a high class affair, decorated in the colonial style of the Raj, and offering "what the greatest epicures of the time said was unequalled to any curries ever made in England".
Even though the British had already developed a taste for dishes such as kedgeree and mulligatawny soup, the venture failed after just two years. The problem was not the food, but a lack of an appetite for eating out. Yesterday a plaque was unveiled commemorating Mr Mahomed's achievement on the site of the Georgian building, which has since been replaced by a 1970s apartment block.
But according to a recent discovery, he could well have done. Historians have found that Britain's first Indian restaurant was opened in 1809, in the midst of the Napoleonic wars and during the period in which Austen set Pride and Prejudice.
The Hindoostane Coffee House was established by Sake Dean Mahomed, an Indian-born entrepreneur, as a purveyor of Oriental food of the "highest perfection" in Marylebone, London, which at the time was a residential district for the well-off.
Mr Mahomed, who had served in the East India Company army and was married to Jane Daly, an Irishwoman, hoped to cash in on the area's popularity with former merchants and servicemen who settled there after making fortunes on the subcontinent.
It was a high class affair, decorated in the colonial style of the Raj, and offering "what the greatest epicures of the time said was unequalled to any curries ever made in England".
Even though the British had already developed a taste for dishes such as kedgeree and mulligatawny soup, the venture failed after just two years. The problem was not the food, but a lack of an appetite for eating out. Yesterday a plaque was unveiled commemorating Mr Mahomed's achievement on the site of the Georgian building, which has since been replaced by a 1970s apartment block.