Series 5 Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares - The Curry Lounge

Date Published:

10/12/2007

Gordon visits the Curry Lounge in Nottingham, a do-it yourself restaurant that's failing to draw the crowds

Nottingham is the city with more restaurants per square mile than any other in Britain so competition for the punter's pound is strong. Among the contenders is The Curry Lounge, a flash looking Indian restaurant that puts the diner in the driving seat.

The restaurant offers a do-it-yourself curry where customers are in control of the menu, allowed to create their own dishes a gimmick that's causing headaches for head chef Zahir. The food's nothing to write home about, with inauthentic dishes cluttering the mile-long menu and the front of house team aren't helping matters ambling through service with no clear line-of-command.

Ex sales director, Raz, has been running The Curry Lounge since January but he's new to the restaurant business and his lack of experience is showing up at the tills.

Despite a £500k refurbishment that makes the restaurant look like a Bollywood set, early success has tailed off. Customers aren't coming through the doors and it's doubtful whether The Curry Lounge is going to make past Christmas. Raz needs a reality check and Gordon's the man to give it to him.

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