New 'Eleven Spices' restaurant with bar and cocktails will open in Leamington

The owner of a takeaway is looking to continue strong community links as he expands into Leamington.

Baabzi Miah, the owner of Baabzi Indian Takeaway in Coten End in Warwick, will be taking over 11 Spencer Street in Leamington to create 'Eleven Spices by Baabzi'

This new premises will be a restaurant with a bar that will also serve cocktails.

He said: "I have run and managed restaurants from a young age and these have been scattered around the UK from Cumbria to the Midlands. These were great learning opportunities and I honed my art by hard work and commitment.

"My customers at the takeaway have been asking again and again about opening up a full service seated restaurant. For one reason or the other when I tried previously to secure a site or start the process of setting up a restaurant, it just didn’t happen.

"This time, with my loyal business partner Nasir Hussain, we have all the right ingredients to boldly begin this expansion plan.

"I have a special connection to Leamington and Warwick and it from this base that I hope to build and open further fabulous food outlets.

"Having developed an award winning takeaway, it ingrained into us our focus on actual food, the supply chain, the menu, the produce and importantly an understanding of our local community.

"This has given us a solid foundation upon which to build a full service restaurant. With a restaurant, we get to concentrate on service, the culture and the feel of actual in house hospitality."

The name of the new restaurant is also important to Baabzi.

He said: "The number 11 is very special to me. 2011 was a great year for me and my family and we live at number 11 and importantly I have 11 key spices that we combine in differing ways that will form part of each and every dish we serve up.

"I've created a ‘spice mixology’, that is specific to us, we source, blend and cure our premium spices to form a hybrid blend that results in a magical component to our dishes, its all about 11.

"The plan is also to have a group of ten restaurants and one takeaway, creating a group of 11 standout food places.

"These will be scattered around the UK at locations to suit. Where we set up, we like to be an integral part of the community, this is really important to us."

Baabzi will also be drawing on his background and experience to help create the menu.

He said: "I'm committed to an authentic backbone to all our dishes - you just can't beat it.

"I believe Bangladeshi/South Asian cuisine to be the finest in the world if it stays true to its roots and backbone.

"Fresh seasonal produce, a balanced use of the food groups ensuring nutrient retention was always key, and most of all the simplicity of flavour.

"Unfortunately in the race for profits and survival, restaurants have substituted style for substance, restaurants look great, the dishes are extravagantly artified at the expense of flavour and nutrition. It’s not what we do at Eleven.

"I've travelled all over the world and had the pleasure of sampling and enjoying wonderful food, my fondest memories are of village cooking, it’s forever honest, fresh and simply divine."

Eleven Spices by Baabzi is due to open in May.