News / coronavirus

Closed Indian restaurant continues to cook for NHS staff

By Martin Booth  Monday Mar 30, 2020

An Indian restaurant owned by a former Bristol lord mayor and lady mayoress is providing food to staff at the BRI.

Chai Shai in Hotwells has already delivered dozens of meals to everyone from cleaners to cardiologists, cooked at their restaurant on Jacob’s Wells Road, which remains closed due to the coronavirus crisis.

“We are all in this together and feeling happy,” said Faruk Choudhury, who was lord mayor from 2013 to 2014.

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While husband and wife team Faruk and Shilpi cook the food, volunteers prepare the food parcels that can then be taken to the hospital.

Some of the first parcels have been taken to the clinical pharmacy, clinical assessment unit and emergency department.

Former Bristol lord mayor Faruk Choudhury hard at work in Chai Shai’s kitchen – photo: Shilpi Choudhury

Some of the delicious food prepared – photo: Shilpi Choudhury

Food parcels ready to be delivered to the BRI – photo: Shilpi Choudhury

Read more: Bristol food and drink businesses collaborate in times of crisis

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