Happy Birthday: Sachins Turns 40
We speak to owner Bob Arora about Sachins' milestone anniversary
Sachins has become a Newcastle dining institution, a much-loved Indian - or more specifically, Punjabi - restaurant on Forth Banks, tucked behind Central Station.
The restaurant has been operating for 40 years now – the last 20 or so under the loving management of Kulmeet ‘Bob’ Arora – and shows no signs of diminishing in popularity or acclaim. So we thought we’d catch up with Bob to find out why Sachins has become so revered.
The building housing Sachins has quite a history – it was a motoring club and then a jazz club in the sixties and seventies, with quite a few big names gracing the stage. And in the early days of the restaurant, legendary Channel 4 music show The Tube used to have its after-parties there.
Before taking over Sachins in 2000, Bob had been a regular visitor, although at the time he was running a couple of Dominos pizza franchises.
“I used to eat there at least once a month and always loved the food and I knew there was potential, it just needed a bit more TLC.”
He still cooks every day and thinks this is a big part of Sachins’ appeal.
“I think thankfully we’re very consistent and consistency is a massive thing. And having one chef who’s there all the time makes a massive difference to that.”
Sachins’ customers clearly agree.
“We still have customers that have been coming in for the last 30 or 40 years, they’ll want the same table, the same dish. But we get a lot of new customers as well,” Bob explains, adding that being on the edge of the Stephenson Quarter and right next to the Crowne Plaza has made a big difference in recent years.
The Sachins website stresses that it offers Punjabi food and Bob explains why that is.
“The vast majority of ‘Indian restaurants’ in the UK are Bangladeshi, but being Punjabi we try and stick to our roots, and what you find at the restaurant is what you’d get back in India."
"Obviously, we’ve had to change a couple of things to make them suitable for the Western palate but the vast majority is proper Indian food. We have to warn people about our jalfrezi as it’s so unique to Sachins. It’s cooked in a chili-based sauce and it’s really spicy, it’s fiery hot.“
This desire to keep things authentic involves a real attention to detail.
“Our spices are all home-made, instead of buying packs of spices we grind them all ourselves. We don’t use any sugar, no food colouring. We’ve also taken nuts out of the menu. We used to use cashew nuts and almonds a lot to thicken sauces, but with so many people having nut allergies now we’ve removed them.”
As the restaurant’s website says, ‘our reds come from chillies, our yellows from turmeric.’
As is traditional, we asked Bob what dish he’d recommend to a newcomer.
“My current favourite is butter chicken if you want something mild. But from when I started coming to the restaurant, I used to eat chicken karahi all the time and it’s still a firm favourite.”
There have been numerous refits to Sachins over the years, and another one imminent (Bob is playing his cards close to his chest about what that might involve) but Sachins is essentially sticking to a tried, tested and very successful formula and that’s why people love it. Not many restaurants last four decades but Sachins clearly isn’t going anywhere.
Sachins is open for lunch Monday to Saturday from 12pm until 1:30pm and for dinner between 5pm and 9:30pm. Find out more at www.sachins.co.uk.
Main image: Kulmeet 'Bob' Arora of Sachins
