10 questions with Karan Gokani

Karan Gokani is the co-founder and creative director of Hoppers, the Sri Lankan and South Indian restaurant group founded in 2015. Building on its success in Soho, Marylebone and King’s Cross, Hoppers opened its latest new restaurant in Shoreditch in February this year. With all Hoppers locations now on the CODE app at 25% off food, we took the opportunity to ask Karan our 10 essential questions.

What’s the most underrated dish on your menu?

Our cocktails. It breaks my heart when people come in and think, OK, it’s an Indian curry, we’re just going to have a beer. We put a lot of effort into our cocktails and go through various iterations;  it’s not just mix, stir, add a sprig of mint to make it look colourful. From day one, the attention was always on “if we do something, we do it well”. My favourite is the pandan and coconut negroni. I don’t drink anymore but that’s probably because I had too many of those. It’s probably the best negroni out there.

Where do you go after hours?

It has to be Chinatown. Dumplings’ Legend and Old Town 97 because they are open the latest. When we opened Hoppers, I was there practically four days a week. I ate my body weight in duck every week!

What’s your secret London tip?

I don’t think it’s only London but it’s eating solo and eating at the bar. Most people come in to your restaurant because they need a setting for a meeting or a date, or they want to try your food, whereas someone who comes to eat solo is practically having a date with you and is really invested. I love sitting on a counter or a bar and I love dining out solo.

What’s the best thing you can do in London with £20?

Get out of central London. Whether it’s a food hop around Wembley, Tooting, Green Lanes, Dalston, Brixton, it’s almost like going on holiday. And you’d be surprised by how much you can get for £20, £25. Hedge your bets; go to a couple of shops; do a little bit of research. I love these ethnic neighbourhoods, because that’s where the community usually dines. I think you get a lot more bang for your buck and you’re not paying central London overheads. It does cost us a lot more to run a restaurant [in central London] and I think restaurants play a different role [there]. I remember in lockdown going to Wembley with Su, who was heavily pregnant at the time, two of us, stopping at six spots. It felt like the closest thing to going on holiday.

Where do you go when you want to splurge?

A. Wong. I love Andrew. I love what he does. I love Asian food. Some of those over the top plated restaurants don’t excite me as much – I need a little bit of action; I need multiple courses; I need interaction with the team; so sitting at Andrew’s counter is always great fun. It’s the kind of food that I don’t cook as much or as well as I want to at home.

Which CODE offers are you going to be snapping up?

Singapulah in Soho [50% off food]. It’s already great value and a really fun restaurant, so with 50% off its unmissable.

What’s your favourite thing to cook at home?

Pizza. Always. I love pizza. I’ve got multiple Gozney ovens. I work very closely with Gozney. Even if it wasn’t for them, I’ve been cooking pizza on everything from a pan to an oven under the grill… I’ve tried every trick in the book to make restaurant-style puffy pizza for the last 20 years. I’m obsessed with it.

Which kitchen tasks do you like most and like least?

I hate washing up and I hate emptying the dishwasher. Luckily my wife likes that. She enjoys the therapeutic nature of loading and unloading the dishwasher. We’ve got the whole division of labour nailed at home! I love toasting and grinding spices and making my own masalas. There’s a whole therapeutic process; the whole house comes to life with the smell of spices, and there’s a nostalgic nature about it that takes me straight back home to childhood.

What are your favourite and least favourite ingredients?

Asafoetida or hing. It’s not really a spice, it’s a resin.  You use it in a lot of vegetarian cooking but a lot of cooking generally. It’s that flavour enhancer in Indian food that sits in the background. Used in the right amount, it’s incredible. Used incorrectly, it can overpower a dish. But I love it. My least favourite is garlic in a jar. [Making your own] is one of those front-loaded tasks that you can do once a month; take three, four heads of garlic, peel them all, get them into a little grinder with a splash of oil and salt, and keep in a takeaway box or glass jar in your fridge.

When you’re not working in a restaurant or eating in a restaurant, where will we find you?

In the gym or on my Brompton.