Story behind Swadish, an authentic Indian that bases dishes around Scottish produce in Glasgow’s Merchant City

Swadish is a participant in Taste the Place, encouraging Glaswegians and visitors to learn more about cuisine and culture.

Transcript

00:00I'm Chef Ajakumar. I'm the owner of Swadish by Ajakumar. We're based in

00:05Glasgow's Merchant City. It's a modern Indian dining. I like to combine local

00:10Scottish produce with my roots, growing up in India with Indian spicing and so

00:14yeah, Swadish is about experimenting different concepts and we take

00:21pride in combining the local fish, lamb, beef with the traditional Indian

00:27spicing. Well, I'm born a foodie and growing up in India, learning from my dad

00:33and then teachers and ending up in culinary college, I was always intrigued

00:38by, you know, the variety of food around us. I think I didn't plan coming to Scotland

00:43but it just happened. I was traveling. I went to Singapore, I went to Malaysia, Thailand

00:48for a while and then Dubai for a while and then got an opportunity to come to

00:52Scotland to work as a chef and which I didn't miss because it was a great

00:57opportunity in my understanding and now having a restaurant in Glasgow it was

01:01again by chance. My first restaurant was in Edinburgh. It was more like a wedding

01:06venue but Swadish is a different concept and I always wanted to do something

01:12different. Scotland has so many good things to offer especially the seafood and

01:17meats. It has lovely curry houses and I just didn't want to be one of them. I just

01:22wanted to have my twist. Scotland's got the best of the best and I worked in

01:26different kitchens. I've worked with Italians, I worked in Spanish restaurants,

01:30British pubs and restaurants, Indian kitchens, Pakistani, Spanish dishes and I

01:34think Scala has won the best larder. Even the fish, the chicken, the lamb, you name it

01:39even the veggies that we grow here. They're not very many but I think what we

01:42grow here is the best of the best and it pairs really well with the different

01:48cuisines and us as an Indian restaurant. The seafood especially we

01:52predominantly focussed on the seafood. Fish from up north where the Scottish water

01:56meets the North Atlantic water. It just gives such a delicate sweet flavour to

02:01seafood. It's best of the best. Linguistines, lobster, monkfish, halibut, I think

02:08they're top-notch. Fish, lamb, you know, we get it from Isle of Mull and the

02:14Baddunshar so grass-fed lamb, we can't beat it. Scots lamb is one of the best type of

02:20lamb in my opinion. Likewise the beef, the gotch beef, you can't beat it for its, you

02:25know, white marbling and grassiness and the sweet, earthy flavour. We go foraging

02:30when it's possible with our suppliers. I take my girls, my daughters and they're

02:35tiny, five and seven, so we go together as a family. All these places offer such a

02:40unique produce. Most of the restaurants in Glasgow, the good restaurants, the

02:45top-quality restaurants are slightly expensive and that's only and only because

02:49they source the top-quality produce, going after the best produce and

02:53showcasing the Scottish produce on our menus but still combining with our roots

02:58which is Indian.