Rohit Khattar, of Habitat fame in Delhi, has always been good at attracting Hollywood and Bollywood celebrities to his London and New York restaurants. 

“Honestly, I haven’t done any PR,” insists Khattar when he opened a branch of Indian Accent in London in December, to add to the original restaurant he launched in Delhi seven years and an off shoot two years ago in New York.
An early celebrity to wander in unannounced was the double Oscar-nominated Jessica Chastain, who made her name in 2013 with Zero Dark Thirty, a thriller about the CIA’s hunt for Osama bin Laden, and stars in the just released Molly’s Game. 

“Jessica was here with her whole family — eight of them,” Khattar recalled. “I am a big fan — I was so happy to see her.” 

Included on the £80 nine course menu are such items as puchkas; Kashmiri morels, walnut powder, parmesan papad; baked cod Amritsari, mint boondi; meetha achaar ribs, sundried mango, onion seeds; choice of kulcha served with black dairy dal, wasabi cucumber raita; chicken kofta, Punjabi kadhi, onion pakora; makhan malai, saffron milk, rose petal jaggery brittle, almonds; and doda barfi treacle tart, vanilla bean ice cream. 

However, his kitchen, trained by his most innovative chef, Manish Mehrotra, had to cope with the fact that the Hollywood star is strictly vegan. 

Chastain was followed shortly afterwards by the Bollywood actress Sonam Kapoor.

Indian Accent in Albemarle Street in London’s exclusive Mayfair — it has won excellent reviews from critics — is on the site of the old Chor Bizarre which started 20 years ago and itself replaced Gaylord which was established in 1973 and ushered in tandoori chicken. 

Khattar remembers that “when Chor Bizarre opened, Shashi Kapoor was literally the first guest here — he had Kashmiri khana and then tipped the staff handsomely. All the girls wanted to get photographed with him. It is a lovely photograph that I cherish. It is so sad he is gone…wonderful man.

“Our number one client of all time was Ismail Merchant because his office was the back of Chor Bizarre where he would have all his meetings. He would have all these wonderful actors and actresses with him at every meal.”

Khattar, who grew up in the projection room above his grandfather’s Broadway Cinema in Kashmir, now has his own film production company, Cinestaan, which has made Mirzya, The Hungry and Kaalakaandi starring Saif Ali Khan.

He includes Cinema Paradiso, Dr Zhivago, The Godfather, Sholay and Aradhana among his top five movies.