26 September 2019

Bright and early, pupils from King’s Cross Academy, Edith Neville Primary and Frank Barnes School for Deaf Children were warmly welcomed by Dishoom restaurant founders Kavi and Shamil Thakrar, before sitting down to a delicious breakfast. Egg naan rolls with chilli tomato jam, and fruit with coconut yoghurt are not normal Magic Breakfast offerings, but were a real treat. A few of the children took some coaxing to try new foods but once tasted they loved them. There was some great feedback from the children. One girl said “This is the best naan bread I have ever had, I wish this could be my breakfast every day!”

Each child was given a chef’s hat and an apron, and in groups they were taken up to the kitchen where they received a masterclass in roomali roti making from Executive Chef, Naveed (and got covered in flour!).

There were definitely a few budding chefs in the groups. One boy paid avid attention to the demonstration and proceeded to expertly spin and toss his dough hand to hand to make perfect roti.

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There was a tour of the kitchen, to see where those tasty naans were cooked, lessons in food safety and hygiene, activity books to fill in and tablemats to decorate. Dishoom encourages staff to give a day of their time to community work and the schools were joined by many volunteers from Dishoom who had a great time assisting the children, and for some of them learning to sign. Several volunteers said afterwards they were keen to take up sign language classes at Frank Barnes as they’d so enjoyed communicating with the deaf children – great news during deaf awareness week.

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The morning flew by and the children proudly walked back to school still wearing their chef hats and aprons.

Thank you so much to Dishoom for four fabulous years of support and to the King’s Cross restaurant for a memorable morning.