Owners of an Indian restaurant in UK were pleasantly surprised when they saw bookings surged during this week. The Light of India in Ellesmere Port has received overnight popularity after Hollywood actor Ryan Reynolds described the food there as the ‘best Indian food in Europe’, media reports said.
Reynolds, who owns Wrexham FC, posted a photo of the menu of the restaurant to his 44 million Instagram followers on Saturday (20) night.
Shaa Rahaman, 28, whose family have run the restaurant since 1980, said he was “gobsmacked” when he spotted the post. He told the BBC that bookings soared since Reynolds’ endorsement.
Rahaman then called his parents to check whether Reynolds came to the restaurant. But they had no idea. Later, he showed them photographs of the star and they were surprised.
“My parents don’t watch Hollywood films. They are South Asian and are more into Bollywood. They don’t know who he is, which is quite funny. But we are all very thankful for Ryan to do it. It has certainly increased business,” he was quoted as saying by the BBC.
“It’s been completely crazy since Sunday. We were just starting to recover as a business after Covid and this has been like a godsend, it’s been insane.”
Rahaman has now invited the the Deadpool star for a meal on the house next time he was in the UK. “I want to try to get in touch with Ryan now to see if we can name a dish in honour of him – the Deadpool masala, perhaps,” he added.
The family do not know if Reynolds came to the restaurant at Whitby Road in person but suspect he most likely ordered a takeaway.
The restaurant offers classic Indian dishes such as Chicken Korma (£7.50), Chicken Balti (£7.50), Lamb Biryani (£8.50) and Tandoori Mixed Grill (£9.90).
The actor has been in the UK with his Wrexham co-owner, actor Rob McElhenney, ahead of the launch of a new documentary on Disney Plus, reports said.
