"I didn't know anything about the restaurant business when I started out - I just knew how to feed people, make them happy and dance to the music," says Susan R John, or Sue, as everyone calls her. It's a formula that has worked perfectly for her. Sue's Food Place, the only Caribbean restaurant in India, is still going strong after 17 years - no mean feat in a notoriously difficult industry.
"I started the restaurant out of homesickness. I used to love cooking and entertaining, and a friend suggested that I open this place so that other people don't miss out," says Sue. Born and raised in Trinidad, Sue says she hardly knew anything about India before visiting the country in 1980. Her only Indian connection is her husband, whom she met as a student in London, and subsequently moved to Bangalore for.
Once the restaurant opened, she realised that cooking for a bunch of friends and for guests in a restaurant was "a different kettle of fish". She also had to contend with ignorance about Caribbean food, which people associated with a lot of meat and as being insipid. "But once they tasted it, they kept coming back," says Sue.
Located in a lane off 100 Feet Road in Indira Nagar, Bangalore, the interiors of Sue's Food Place resemble a kitschy living room with lots of photographs of guests from "back home," including the West Indies cricket team. There are also framed jerseys and an autographed cricket bat. Various members of the team started visiting 2002 onwards, after being told about Sue's by the high commissioner. At times, when security restrictions do not permit a visit, as in the case of Chris Gayle, she sends food to their hotel. But her greatest moment was when Viv Richards turned up. "He was my heartthrob," she laughs.
The menu runs into several pages and includes mouth-watering options like Sue's special geera pork, West Indian stewed pork and juicy Trinidad stewed beef. I order a Sue's special - Jamaican jerk chicken which is two generous pieces of grilled chicken, some Spanish rice, macaroni pie, stewed red beans and a salad. The grilled chicken is full of flavour. The macaroni pie, a Trinidad staple, provides a mild yummy foil while the stewed beans resemble a sweetish dal. All of this makes for a hearty and, more importantly, delicious meal. Sue comes in with a soursop, a favourite drink in Trinidad, similar to tender coconut water but made with the soursop fruit that she grows in Bangalore. She also urges me to try a baiganer, a snack made with brinjal, which tastes a bit like chaat. She produces some of Trinidad's famous pepper sauce to dip it in, made with the fiery scotch bonnet pepper. The main courses are priced at Rs 300-400, making them great value for money.
A customer who is leaving tells Sue, "You know the bad part about your restaurant? I have to go back and work." I couldn't agree more.
All the spices and sauces are procured from "back home", dispatched by various family members through people passing through, or by post. The recipes are either those used by her family or other traditional Caribbean recipes. "If I'm making curried duck, I make it like my mummy did in Tabaquite (a village in Trinidad)," she says.
I had visited Sue's for dinner once before and while the food had been equally good, Sue's absence had made the whole experience less memorable. So it is quite a dampener to hear that one day, she will go back "home". "I would hate to call it a day here but I'm getting down, and the war paint will eventually wear off," she says, chuckling.
Business Standard paid for the meal. Sue's Food Place is on Shri Krishna Temple Road, Indira Nagar Stage II, Bangalore. Phone: 080-2525 2494
