Karam, Sunaina and Jyotin Sethi: Culinary Designers, Masala Mavericks

Karam Sethi and his two siblings Sunaina and Jyotin run JKS, a restaurant group behind some of London’s most adored eateries, including NRA-award winning Gymkhana, Bao, and Lyle’s, plus Trishna and most recently, Hoppers.

Culinary master and mind behind successful restaurants changing the way Indian cuisine is eaten in London. He’s marked as being one of the few tastemakers in the city that are successfully approaching the overlooked middle ground between modern high-end Indian places and high street curry houses. Sethi’s success all started with his first restaurant: Trishna on Blandford Street in Marylebone, got a Michelin star shortly after it opened despite the looming recession and while some Londoners hadn’t yet heard of Gymkhana (it was only open nine months at the time) it came as no surprise that Sethi’s second restaurant won the 2014 National Restaurant Awards. It was a big deal: it’s an award that is selected by 150 chefs, restaurateurs and gourmands. First place meant it was the best in Britain. Gymkhana is a name that comes from the colonial Gentlemen’s Clubs of the English Raj, where Indians of higher classes would network, dine, drink and play sports—a kind of Indian country club. There’s also considerable excitement around Sethi’s third venture, the Sri Lankan restaurant Hoppers. This means pure joy for those craving a lunch curry but seeking to avoid the coma-inducing effects of an Indian buffet: Hoppers serves up the traditional Sri Lankan dish, a bowl-shaped pancake made from fermented rice batter and coconut milk, alongside a few flavourful options of lamb, fish and guinea fowl karis, plus veggie-friendly options.  And of course, there’s yoghurt and chutney available too. All for around £5-7. 

JKS Restaurants is the corporate company that Sethi owns with his two business partners, Jyotin and Suanina. Sethi is the middle child of three children and runs the concept development, menu creation and design, while Jyotin handles the accounting and the youngest sister Sunaina serves as the group’s sommelier. Despite scooping up Michelin Stars for their restaurants Trishna and Gymkhana, and receiving the prestigious NRA award in 2014, the way he does business has always been family-focused. They started out small before gaining all of the notoriety they receive today. 

While his parents reportedly wanted him to be a banker, Sethi has carved out a nice niche for himself in the restaurant industry in one of the most discerning in the world. After he finished school, he spent a year at the Sheraton New Delhi learning the basics of an Indian kitchen: tandoori marinade, lentil-prep—the whole gamut. And since he’s honed his craft and created restaurants that are defining the very idea of Indian food. London’s food scene is saturated with Indian restaurants all offering a menu more earnest and authentic than the next but Sethi’s restaurants have skyrocketed to success without much fabricated effort. Reviews of his restaurants frequently compliment the quality and the playful and imaginative—most of all delicious—combination of ingredients.

The Sethi family has also invested in young talent by partnering with a variety of restaurants, including Bubbledogs, Kitchen Table, Lyle’s & Bao. In late 2015, JKS opened Hopper’s, an informal eatery inspired by the roadside shacks of Southern India and Sri Lanka, on Frith Street in Soho. The JKS group has grown to stand for the multicultural diversity of London’s international food scene and dining culture. Lyle’s offers modern British fare while Bao serves up Taiwanese steamed buns in an all-wood interior, with one location in Soho and another opening up in Fitzrovia. 

On Staying Focused On The End Goal No Matter What

“There’s never been a point where we’ve thought, ‘This is not for us. It’s not going to happen. We’re not going to succeed.” (Esquire)

On Praise (Or Criticism) From His Peers
“You hear noises of your competitors saying, ‘Why the fuck are they winning these awards? They’re just a curry house.’ We might be, but you don’t see curry houses doing dosas with slow-cooked Chettinad duck, or duck egg bhurji, an Indian scrambled egg dish we serve with lobster. It hit the sweet spot basically, people got it. They came to Gymkhana and they just got the place.” (Esquire)

On London’s Restaurant Scene
“It’s probably the only city in the world where you can have so many cuisines in one day at top quality and on a budget.” (FT.com)