The inspiration for Ganapati Restaurant came from a number of elements experienced as a first time visitor to this remarkable country and then on subsequent revisits, particularly to the south...

Proprietor: Claire Fisher

...Canteens or hotels in south india with their signs 'meals ready' serving up an amazingly tasty array of flavours and textures on a banana leaf...

..Communal eating, the shared experience; on street corners, at train stations, on trains, in temples, in homes, at weddings and festivals, the symbolic value and ritual of food...

...The exuberant use of colour on anything and everything, moving or stationary, animate or inanimate...

...The way that the divine participates in peoples' daily lives, and how that is expressed...

India is an intensely rewarding country to visit. It gives to the traveller most generously, spontaneously and unconditionally, and as a result, invariably leaves deep impressions that are likely to stay with us.

Ganapati is one of the south Indian names for the elephant-headed god Ganesh. He is the remover of obstacles, with a particular fondness for sweets, and is perhaps the best-loved of all the hindu gods.

Ganapati Restaurant opened in December 2004.