Many people start their working life in hospitality before moving into sectors that offer a better work-life balance, higher pay, or more consistent hours.
Very few people move in the opposite direction: restaurants are not the place that the jaded and weary tend to fall into in midlife.
And yet this is exactly what happened to us, and it turns out we’re not alone. In this week’s episode of The Food Chain on the BBC World Service, Ruth Alexander meets three people who have done the same, including Mowgli’s Nisha Katona, who worked as a child protection barrister before founding her food business at the grand old age of 47.
For Nisha, it was about sharing her love of Indian home cooking. It was about creating jobs and social capital in every place that she built a restaurant. It was about paying her dues and supporting local charities. She couldn’t do many of these things in her previous job, noble as it was.
We definitely didn’t have a clear vision when we first started out. It was just a needs-must situation: Yeshi needed a job. We began in street food, and here, at the coal face, we quickly found our purpose: community.
Both of us were still new to Oxford when we opened up in the outdoor market. The stall gave us a chance to connect with people. This wasn’t just about the food or the experience that we were creating. It was about the relationships that we made with our customers, the market managers, fellow businesses and suppliers.
For Yeshi it was about learning how stuff works here, what people do, and what the rules are. It was about discovering what he had to offer. After a few years of feeling quite displaced, he gained a sense of belonging.
Over time, I reckon we’ve come to know our adopted city better than many of its old-timers. Having a shop front is a great way to get to know and understand a place. When we took over the premises on Magdalen Road in east Oxford we discovered that it had operated variously as a bakery, a butcher’s, an ironmonger’s, a hardware store, a grocer’s, a florist and a pawnbroker’s. In the picture above you see it in its 1957 incarnation. A 1980s capture of the premises resides in the restaurant toilet, or click here.
Our purpose is both internal and external. It’s about building a community that feels safe and connected. It’s about providing a sense of home. But it’s also about the Tibetan people at large. It’s about Tibetan food as a vehicle for the bigger conversations.
So while the move into restaurants is unusual at midlife and we definitely haven’t found the perfect work-life balance (yet!), we feel incredibly lucky to have landed where we are, doing what we do.
Make our week – join us for momos and more from tomorrow, Wednesday. Our opening times are as follows:
Weds – Fri: 5-9.30pm (dinner only)
Saturday: 12-3/ 5-9.30pm
Sunday: 12-3 / 5-9pm
This week’s menu is up on the website – check it. Come for dine in, take away and a restock of your freezer. Sepen chilli oil is also back in stock, as are cookbooks.
Newsletter subscribers always enjoy special offers at our restaurant. This week we’re offering deals on a wide range of our freezer food. If you’re in the market for discounts and freebies sign up here.
Looking forward to seeing you soon,
Julie and Yeshi
Opening hours this week:
Weds – Fri: 5-9.30pm
Saturday: 12-3pm 🥢 5-9.30pm
Sunday: 12-3pm 🥢 5-9pm
☏ 01865 499318
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