Opening date announced for Sunderland's new My Delhi restaurant

Work is ongoing at the former Funky Indian restaurant in Borough Road after it was taken over by brothers Elahi Shah Amin and Shah Amin, who are opening a sister site to their original My Delhi in Clayton Street, Newcastle.

The large Sunderland unit has had a number of guises over the years, including as Italian restaurant Cosa Nostra, Funky Indian restaurant and, very briefly, as late night bar Truth and Cafe 420 which was its last incarnation before it closed.

Now, it’s been revealed that it will open as My Delhi on Tuesday, June 7. There will also be a grand opening party from 3pm to 5pm the day before, Monday, June 6 with complimentary snacks, a glass of Prosecco and live music, which is open to everyone.

Wearside can expect authentic Indian street food, such as 1950s-style butter chicken from My Delhi, whose chefs hail from the Indian capital.

The menu will be similar to that of the Newcastle venture which has already earned the restaurant awards in the prestigious Asian Curry Awards and the English Curry Awards.

Executive chef Gaurav Dayal said: “We’re all about casual dining and this site is perfect for that. We’ll be having a bar and restaurant upstairs, which is open for lunches onwards, with the full restaurant downstairs.”

Speaking about what appealed to them about the new Sunderland site, Elahi said: “There were a few factors which appealed to us about this site. Firstly, the size is exactly what we had in mind.

"This will be a 150-seater restaurant, which will be bigger than our Newcastle site, and we always knew we wanted to expand. The location is also great, next door to a great building like the Winter Gardens. It’s also ideally situated for the delivery side of the business.”

My Delhi is one in a number of restaurants set to open in the coming weeks. National chain German Doner Kebab are currently fitting out a unit in High Street West, while Rio will also be bringing their unlimited steak offering to Sunderland.