Pop in and Have a Chaat at Talwar Express!

We are always pleased when chefs and hospitality leaders open new places and happy to spread the word. Ex-GM of Bristol’s The Mint Room and Bandook, Mohan Shanmugam has opened his first restaurant, along with Executive Chef and Business Partners, Muraliraj Narahimaraj and Murthy Ganta.

The hospitality trio are more of a work family, have a fantastic rapport and have worked all over the country together, notably at Birmingham’s Lasan Group and London’s Bombay Bustle Indian street food restaurant in Mayfair by the Leela Palaces Group.

Talwar Express is modelled on these hugely popular Indian street food spots and the style of cuisine is very much from the Southern region – Tamil Nadu; Both Mohan and Murali hail from the Chennai and Tamil is their spoken language.

Talwar means sword in Tamil and is representative of the determination and gumption that the team have displayed since arriving in the UK with big dreams in 2008.  It is this hard work and dedication that has led to the opening of Talwar Express and the Bristol Food Media Lunch was a celebration of the cumulation of their labour of love.

The Chefs’ Forum were delighted and honoured to have been asked to gather the great and the good of Bristol’s foodie glitterati for a special Bristol Food Media Lunch to firmly launch the restaurant in a city, where world street food is extremely well-represented and a total of ninety one languages and cultures celebrated.

We have worked with the team for the last six years, staging many culinary events, both at their restaurants for chefs, as well as high profile customer events and new model launches for both Bristol Audi and Bath Audi.

“Talwar Express is a homage to Indian street food,” Mohan told Catherine Farinha. “It’s a style of food that I grew up with and it’s close to my heart. You’ll find staples like chaats and street specials as well as light, healthy plates to share, as well as curries and all sorts of sides.”

“It’s a really interesting menu from someone who really knows the subject,” Catherine Farinha enthused after a taste of the food. “We enjoyed a Mysore Masala Dosa, Lahori Lamb Chops, a Mughlai murgh and gunpowder chips. It was fantastic.

“What I really loved was the way the menu was laid out. It’s unfussy and easy to understand and moves the regular Indian menu format in a new direction. We all felt we could order in any different direction and the plates to share were generous. It’s great to see Mohan doing something he really loves.”

There were some fantastic comments from Bristol’s merry band of food writers and  bloggers; Here were some of the comments:

“The food was absolutely faultless, just like home, we’re now going to hold our celebratory lunch here for fifteen members of 91 Ways.”
Mrs Baljeet Marwah, 91 Ways to Build a Global City

“It was all so good – One of our favourite dishes was the flavour-packed Kale Pakoda – Get yourself down to Talwar Express if you haven’t already!”
Emily Henley, Bristol Bites

“The Perfect way to spend a Bank Holiday, what a pleasure to enjoy well-executed South Indian Food served in small plates at the Bristol Food Media Lunch – Thank you for cooking Chef Muraliraj Narashimaraj.”
Ramona Andrews, Multi-Award-Winning food and cookery writer

This really was the perfect way to spend a Bank Holiday and we would urge you to check it out when next in Bristol.

You can find Talwar Express here www.talwarexpress.com

Photography and film by Carlos Farinha.