In London he had been a curry cook at the Cecil and Savoy hotels. Here, according to an 1899 profile in Harper’s, he was noticed by Sherry’s owner, Louis Sherry, who invited him to bring his culinary skills across the Atlantic. Late Victorian London already had an Indian food scene: as early as 1810, Patna-born Sake Dean Mohamed had opened his Hindostanee Coffee House near Portman Square, serving customers curry and hookah.
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