Esher Tandoori donates hundreds of meals through pandemic

An established member of the community in Esher and the surrounding area for a decade, Esher Tandoori prides itself on its authentic cuisine as well as its outreach efforts in the local area.

And while a series of lockdowns has seen many traders forced to close their doors, owner Mohammed Bahar Uddin was still determined to help make a difference in the community.

Mr Uddin proudly states: "We look after the community, it's one of our mottos."

During one of the peaks of the pandemic, while NHS staff worked hard to save lives on the pandemic frontline, the Tandoori team "really wanted to show their gratitude to some of the hard working and dedicated NHS staff and thought that a good lunch might go down very well for some of the amazing staff at Kingston Hospital Intensive care unit".

Unsurprisingly, the meals went down a treat for the exhausted hospital staff.

But the restaurant's efforts did not end with helping the community through Covid - as they also jumped into action after a fire destroyed part of a residential development in the town last summer.

Mr Uddin's team were on hand once again to help provide free hot food to residents affected by the blaze in Lammas Lane.

His staff's actions were even recognised by the Surrey Police borough commander for Elmbridge later in the year, following yet another round of free meals handed out in the community.

Free meals were donated for staff

In a letter to the team, Inspector Bert Dean wrote:

"May I thank you once more for your exceptional kindness shown to the policing team at Elmbridge.

"I have heard back from the team how delighted they were to receive the curries and how they thoroughly enjoyed it."

Mr Uddin said he hopes such community work can help his family's business stand out in an increasingly crowded market.

"We are not just making money and serving food, we're looking after the community at the same time.

"We're a small family business and this is our duty as a restaurant.

"We're always want to be nice to people in the way we operate," he said.

The restaurant is now open for takeaway and has a delivery service within Esher. It says all possible safety precautions are in place to ensure customer wellbeing is a top priority at all times.

You can find it online at: https://eshertandoori.com/